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Berry Bros. & Rudd announces first wine auction

22 October 2024 By Eloise Feilden

The fine wine merchant has revealed that the first sale of its new auctions arm will feature wines from the private cellar of collector Ian Mill KC.

Berry Bros. & Rudd is launching its new auctions arm with the single-owner online auction, which will predominantly focus on wines from Burgundy.

The merchant described Ian Mill KC, a British barrister who has represented David Beckham, Bob Geldof and Radiohead during his career, as an “important client” for over 20 years.

Mill’s collection includes Burgundy wines whose vintages span from 1955 to 2020. The selection of lots will focus heavily on red wines from the vintages 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1999 and 2002.

White Burgundy wines from the 70s to early 90s and recent vintages such as 2014 and 2017 will also be on offer.

Bottles included in the auction span domaines in Burgundy from Armand Rousseau, Georges Roumier, René Engel, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Dujac to François Raveneau, Coche-Dury, Domaine Leflaive, Comtes Lafon and Arnaud Ente.

Mill has also selected vintage Champagnes from houses including Krug, Dom Perignon and Cedric Bouchard for the auction. Jamet in Côte-Rotie and Ridge Vineyards in California are also named among producers whose bottles will feature.

The auction will open online to bidders globally on 28th October, and will close on 6th November. Berry Bros. & Rudd has announced a buyer’s premium set at 20%.

Berry Bros. & Rudd announces its entry into the fine wine auctions market, with the launch of Berry Bros. & Rudd Auctions, on 1 October. The new arm is designed to add an additional route to market for larger collection sales of highly desirable stock.

Mill said the commercial expansion was “obviously a smart move”. He said: “I am delighted to have been asked to offer a selection of bottles from my collection to support the launch of BBR’s venture into the wine auction market.”

Geordie Willis, director of new ventures for Berry Bros. & Rudd, said: “We are delighted to launch our auction business with a selection of extraordinary wines from Ian Mill’s renowned collection. We have a long-held and close relationship with Ian, and are honoured and delighted that he has entrusted the sale of this part of his collection to us.”

The bottles selected by Mill to be offered for sale have all been inspected by Philip Moulin, fine wine quality and authentication manager at Berry Bros. & Rudd.

In 2019 Mill sold 7,000 bottles from his private wine collection for £8 million. A barrister who specialises in commercial, intellectual property and sport law, Mill began collecting wine in the 1980s.

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