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Domaine Clarence Dillon to stage sale of Château La Mission Haut-Brion wines direct from the cellars

17 September 2024 By Arabella Mileham

Domaine Clarence Dillon is selling a collection of wines from the cellars of Château La Mission Haut-Brion in London this November as the château celebrates 40 years under the ownership of the Dillon family.

The sale, which is being held by Sotheby’s on 7 November, will comprise 700 lots from the cellars of La Mission, which are estimated to go for more than £1 million ($1.3 million), comprising vintages of Château La Mission Haut-Brion from 1920 onwards, as well as Saint-Émilion Grand Cru estate Château Quintus which the family acquired in 2011, and its second wine, Le Dragon de Quintus.

Serena Sutcliffe MW, honorary chairman, Sotheby’s Wine called the château “profound and exciting, a landmark and a legend that is, happily, transformed into total pleasure every time it appears in the glass”, adding that “It should, of course, be a First Growth and it is considered as such, always impressing in vertical tastings.”

The sale will be divided into different “chapters”, covering the four decades of the Clarence Dillon era – the Dillon family acquired the estate in 1983 – and the sixty-year period preceding it.

Highlights of the sale include: a double magnum from Domaine Clarence Dillon’s first vintage; Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1983, 1 double magnum (estimate: £500-700); an Imperial Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1986, (estimate: £1,400-1,900) and a jeroboam of Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989, (estimate: £6,500-8,500) and as 12-bottle case of Château Laville Haut-Brion 1985 (estimate: £1,900-2,400).

In addition to the rare bottles, some lots will offer exclusive experiences, including an opportunity to visit Châteaux La Mission Haut-Brion and Quintus, and a dinner at the 2-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Clarence in Paris followed by a tasting in the restaurant’s wine shop, La Cave du Château.

In May 2022, Domaine Clarence Dillon’s CEO and chairman HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg, sold his personal cellar through Sotheby’s for $6.238,500 million (£4.9m), smashed the pre-sale estimate of between $2.8m and $4m, and seeing as many as 86% of lots achieved prices above their high estimates. The sale raised funds for medical research for mitochondrial-related conditions – a long-term genetic disorder that divests the body of its energy to function properly, and comprised the largest quantity of wine coming direct from châteaux cellars ever to be offered for charity. Prince Robert and his wife, Princess Julie founded The PolG Foundation, a United States Public Charity, after their youngest son Frederik de Nassau was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease in 2016.