Château La Mission Haut Brion auction tops estimate to achieve £1.5 million

A collection of rare wines from the cellars of Château La Mission Haut-Brion raised £1.5 million at auction last week, as the château celebrated 40 years under the ownership of the Dillon family.

The Sotheby’s sale, which was estimated to make more than £1 million ($1.3 million), raised £1,538,490, and comprised 699 lots, including wines from Château La Mission Haut-Brion from 1920 onwards, Château Quintus, the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru estate that the family acquired in 2011, and its second wine, Le Dragon de Quintus.

The auction, which was conducted on 7 November, was divided into two section – The Clarence Dillon era (1983-2022), which made up the majority of lots (1-646) and the earlier, pre-Clarence Dillon era (1920-1982) for lots 647-699.

Overall, the sale was 82% sold by lot, with participation from 25 countries, and a quarter of the overall number of buyers being new to Sotheby’s, a spokesman said.

In total, 3,139 x 75cl bottles were offered, along with 877 Magnums, 140 Double Magnums, 4 Jeroboams, 90 Imperials, 34 Salmanazars and 48 half-bottles, plus five prestige assortment cases of Domaine Clarence Dillon and two VIP experiences.

Highlights of the sale included a jeroboam of Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989, which raised £13,750, against the estimate of £6,500-8,500; La Mission Haut-Brion 1990, 6 Magnums, which sold for £15,000 ($19,563) against a pre-sale estimate of £4,000-£6,000; La Mission Haut-Brion 1982, 1 Jeroboam, which achieved £12,500 ($16,302), nearly double its pre-sale estimate of £4,800-£6,500; 12 bottles of La Mission Haut-Brion 1990, which sold for £12,500 ($16,302) against an estimate of £4,000-£5,500; a 12-bottle case of Château Laville Haut-Brion 1985 raised £6,000 against its original estimate of £1,900-2,400; a double magnum from Domaine Clarence Dillon’s first vintage, Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1983, which smashed its original £500-700 estimate to achieve £5,000; and an Imperial Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1986, which achieved £4,750, against an estimate of £1,400-1,900.

The highest bid however was £22,500 for the ‘Bordeaux experience’for six at Domaine Clarence Dillon, in which the successful bidder would received a private tour of both Château Quintus and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, and the company’s newly opened boutique at the renovated Pavilion Catelan,  La Cave du Château and a tasting of Domaine Clarence Dillon’s younger vintages, followed by a dinner hosted by  deputy managing director of Domaine Clarence Dillon, Jean-Philippe Delmas. The lot also included eight three-bottle cases of wines produced at Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Château Quintus in the last four decades. The second experience – a dinner for six at the 2-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Clarence in Paris, along with eight three-bottle cases of wines from the last 40 years at Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Château Quintus – raised £18,750.

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