Christie’s sees successful sale in Geneva

Christie’s auction of “finest and rarest” wines at their Geneva headquarters on Sunday and Monday was a major success, selling 98% by value and 96% by lot.

Christie’s auction room (Photo: Christie’s)

The 522 lots raised a whopping total of US$3,655,440 (€3,404,363).

The most expensive single lot was 10 bottles of Henri Jayer, Vosne-Romanee, Cros Parantoux Premier Cru 1985 which was bought by a private Asian buyer for S93,060 (each bottle being worth around £6,000).

All ten lots of Henri Jayer from three appellations in Burgundy comfortably beat their reserves, including some Echezeaux Cote de Nuits Grand Cru 1985, nine bottles of which fetched $46,530 from an Asian trade buyer. Six bottles of Richebourg Cote de Nuits Grand Cru 1986 went for the same figure to a Swiss trade buyer.

Christie’s head of wine sales in continental Europe, Edwin Vos, revealed there would be another such auction in Geneva in the spring.

He said: “We felt there was a high demand for such a type of sale in Switzerland especially, which we hoped would appeal to the interested group of discerning buyers at the very top end of the market. The Jayer section, sourced privately or directly from the Domaine, was one of the standout performers. We will be back in May to build on this success.”