Sotheby’s Moutai sale breaks auction record

Sotheby’s London sold 24 bottles of Kweichow Moutai ‘Sun Flower’ 1974 for £1 million on 18 June – the highest price achieved at auction for a single lot of Moutai outside of China. Moreover, this marks the fourth time a wine or spirit lot has sold for over US$1 million.

The precious lot, comprising 24 bottles of Kweichow Moutai ‘Sun Flower’ 1974, is the first Moutai lot to be presented for auction by Sotheby’s in the UK and also the most valuable Moutai lot the auction house has offered to date.

It attracted interest from 14 bidders, who drove the final sale price to five times over the pre-sale low estimate. In the end, sold for £1 million to an Asian collector.

Paul Wong, Sotheby’s Moutai specialist, said: “We have seen some spectacular results for Moutai sold in Hong Kong, but this momentous price takes the baijiu spirit’s standing amongst collectors to new heights. Whilst current travel restrictions may prevent our clients from moving around, this has proved no impediment to the growing momentum of Moutai’s popularity outside Asia.”

Housed in their original wooden crate, the bottles were the top lot in Sotheby’s sale of Rare Whisky & Moutai | Extraordinary Spirits from Asia & Scotland, which brought in a total of £2,046,688.

Other notable lots included a bottle of The Macallan The Red Collection 78 Year Old, which sold for £68,750 and a bottle of Bowmore 50 Year Old Number 1 Vaults 1966 that achieved £43,750.