Petrus leads the way at Sotheby’s sale

Sotheby’s London sale this week realised a total of £1.4 million, with Petrus and Mouton Rothschild dominating the most expensive lots.

Stephen Mould, Sotheby’s head of wine, Europe, said: “With a total well over the high estimate, today’s results demonstrated that Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne are currently in great demand. We saw strong bidding from Asia, the Americas, Europe and the UK, with buyers eager to snap up wines from a selection of stand-out collections. The first collection of 226 lots was 100% sold, the quality of First Growths, Domaine de la Romanée Conti and Champagne proving a draw.”

The lead lot was a case of 1990 Petrus which was sold for £42,300, closely followed by 12 bottles of the 1989 which made £35,250. Six bottles each of the 1982 and 2000 vintages were also in the top 10 lots sold by value.

Another case of 1989 Haut-Brion made £15,863 but four separate lots of Mouton Rothschild’s 2000 vintage were also among the sale’s more expensive purchases.

The only lot that prevented a Bordeaux clean-sweep was a 12-bottle case of 1989 Richebourg from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, sold for £18,800.