Christie’s London sale best in 20 years

Christie’s recent sale of wines and spirits in London realised over £5 million, the highest total for a London wine sale in 20 years for the auctioneer – driven in part by high bidding on rare whiskies.

Overall the sale realised £5.6m (US$7.2m) over the course of two days, with the top lot being a bottle of 1926 60 year old Macallan which smashed all previous records with a final hammer price of £1.2m.

In addition to the record-breaker, other top bottles of whisky sold at the sale included a 50 year old Macallan in a Lalique decanter and a 50 year old bottle of The Yamazaki, which realised £144,000 apiece.

A bottle of Springbank 1919 meanwhile made £132,000 and two 50 year old malts, a Macallan and a Glenfiddich, made £72,000 and £24,000 respectively.

The whiskies consigned directly from the Macallan distillery made £149,400 in total.

The wine almost pales into significance by comparison but a 12 bottle case of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 1986 Montrachet, went for £96,000 and a three magnum lot of 1961 Château Latour realised £55,200.

The Latour was part of a wider collection of old and rare vintages from the Pauillac first growth consigned by the Malbec family, two members of which were winemakers at the estate. The consignment was 100% sold and made £445,824.

Noah May, Christie’s head of department for Wine & Spirits, London, said: “Our two-day sale of Finest and Rarest Wines & Spirits in London achieved £5,692,476, the highest total for a London Wine auction at Christie’s in over 20 years. Without doubt, the sale of The Macallan Michael Dillon 60-Year-Old 1926 for £1,200,000, a world auction record for a bottle of whisky, was the highlight and a historic moment for our category. We were thrilled with the stellar results for whiskies offered directly from The Macallan Distillery, along with the superb single owner collection.

“The collection of historic Latour from The Malbec Family was also 100% sold and achieved £445,824, well above the high estimate. The sale saw competitive bidding from collectors across the globe, eager to acquire exceptional wines and spirits.”