Burgundy leads Sotheby’s HK spring sale

Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present ‘The Summit, A Complete Cellar’, the auction house’s second highest estimated single-owner wine sale in Asia, from 5 to 6 July 2020.

Estimated in excess of HK$78 million, the collection offers more than 1,500 lots of wines from an American wine collector. It will take place during the auctioneer’s spring sale.

Headlining this sale is a broad selection of the finest Burgundies, such as DRC, Dujac and Armand Rousseau. Nearly 200 lots of Burgundy are in magnums or larger format bottlings, of which 21 lots are from DRC. The sale is also distinguished by a collection of the great names from the Rhône, led by 124 lots of Domaine Jean-Louis Chave. 34 lots are from the famed Cuvée Cathelin, 15 of which are in Jeroboam or larger formats.

The sale also features iconic vintages from top chateaux such as Lafite 1959, Petrus 1989 and 1990 and Le Pin 1990. Last but not least, the sale will also include rare Champagnes like 1996 vintage from Salon, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne and Philipponnat Clos des Goisses.

Conner Kriegel, head of auction sales, Sotheby’s Wine, New York, commented: “We are privileged to present this collection which was assembled over three decades by a true connoisseur who learned about and discovered wine through his passion for gastronomy. He travelled extensively through Europe, dining and drinking at the best restaurants and then dutifully finding and buying the world’s greatest wines for his own enjoyment. The personal relationships with many wine producers also granted him privileged access to some of the rarest and most exclusive wines in the world.”

Adam Bilbey, head of Sotheby’s Wine, Asia, added: “Following our record-setting year in 2019, we are thrilled to open our 2020 wine season in Hong Kong with a very important single-owner collection. Featuring the very finest wines from the world’s greatest wine producers, the quality and depth of this collection is beyond imagination. Any wine lover will be stunned to see such quantities of large-format DRC and, as notable, the much sought-after and increasingly rare Cuvée Cathelin from J-L Chave. As the name suggests, this truly is the Summit for wine collectors worldwide!”