Petrus 1982 beats Bordeaux Index record

Bordeaux Index sold an imperial bottle of Pétrus 1982 for a record £45,000 to a Hong Kong client last week, reflecting the recent surge of interest in fine wines from Asian investors.

Recent interest from Asian buyers has seen them scouring the globe’s fine wine auctions for Bordeaux’s first growths and Burgundy.

Bordeaux Index, which sells more than £75 million worth of fine wine to investors and buyers every year, said its latest sale of Pétrus was the highest amount paid for a single bottle in its 13-year history.

“Fine wine sales to Asia are rocketing,” said Bordeaux Index founder Gary Boom. “Even by Hong Kong standards, £45,000 for a bottle of red – albeit a world-class bottle of red – is a remarkable sale. It reflects the incredible current level of interest in fine wines in the region.
 
“As the Pétrus 1982 demonstrates, great vintages like the 2009 Bordeaux have huge appreciation potential, particularly those wines from the top estates. It will be interesting to see what the 2009 Pétrus sells for in 30 years’ time.”

The imperial contains the equivalent of eight bottles of wine or six litres. A recent auction at Sotheby’s New York saw a methuselah of Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC) 1976 sold for $42,350 (£28,203) to an Asian buyer.

A highlight of Bonham’s Fine and Rare Wines auction yesterday (25 March) was a case of DRC 1988. Its estimate was £35,000 to £40,000 and the final price was just over that estimate at £42,550, bought by a UK trade buyer.

At the same auction two lots of Dom Pérignon Rosé 1973 were also bought by UK trade buyers. A case of six bottles was sold for £6,670 (estimate £1,800 to £2,000) and a further dozen of the same for £9,200.

Richard Harvey, European head of wine at Bonham’s, told the drinks business that vintage rosé has been selling well at auction for some time now.

“There definitely seems to be a trend for good vintage rosé Champagne at the moment,” he said.

“It’s a trend we’ve seen developing for a few years now and it particularly affects Dom Pérignon, Cristal and Krug. There is definitely a market for old vintage rosé at the moment.”

Harvey said he was “very pleased” with how the auction had gone, 88% of the lots had been sold and he predicted that the figure would rise to 90% by the end of the day with after sales. The total raised during the course of the auction was £521,000.

A private UK buyer also bought a dozen bottles of Lafite 1986 for £14,950 (estimate £9,000 to £11,000).

Rupert Millar, 25.03.2010