Fourrier barrel sells for £136,400

A barrel of Domaine Fourrier’s 2019 Chambolle Musigny ‘Les Sentiers’ has been sold by Zachys in London for £136,400.

The 228 litre barrel, the only one produced by the Burgundian estate each year and which has never been made available to the public before, was sold in the US auctioneer’s second UK-based sale this year on 14 November.

‘Les Sentiers’ is a minuscule 0.046 hectare plot in Chambolle Musigny, situated next to the grand cru vineyard of Bonnes Mares. Normally bottled by Jean-Marie Fourrier in magnums, the new owner will be able to determine their own bottling format.

The barrel was sold as part of a wider auction of fine wines, including an ex-cellar consignment from Emidio Pepe which made £102,000 in total, including a weekend at the estate which went for £16,000.

Other ex-cellar wines from the Antinori family, including Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso were all 100% sold as well, snapped up by buyers from New York, London, Paris and Taipei.

In total, the 1,298 lots made £2.3 million, with many lots surpassing their high estimates. Other highlights included two bottles of Karuizawa Pearl Geisha Sherry cask went for £34,720, six bottles of 2009 La Romanée from Comte Liger-Belair sold for £27,280 and another six of 2014 Corton Charlemagne from Coche-Dury made £22,320.

Christy Erickson, Head of Europe at Zachys commented: “With an increasingly diverse buyer demographic, Zachys’ second European sale illustrated that the global fine-wine auction industry is in great health, despite global uncertainty around Covid-19.

“We look forward to resuming our in-person sales and events when its safe to do so, but in the meantime our online ‘Studio Sales’ provide clients with the excitement of a live auction from the comfort of their homes. Our inaugural European sales season has been a roaring success and with auctions still to come in Hong Kong and New York later this month, it is set to be one of our most thriving years to date.”