As anticipated, Asian buyers led the way at Christie’s first Hong Kong wine auction of 2011, another tick in the upward trajectory of that market. Collectors showed a particular thirst for old Bordeaux and Burgundy vintages. Top sellers were two 6-magnum lots of 1961 La Tache, which each sold for $92,448, just shy of the low estimate. In all, however, the sale brought in $9.91 million, well above the $9 million expected.
A case of 1982 Petrus fetched $83,203, above its high estimate, a result matched by a three-bottle lot of 1929 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, which closed at $77,040, about $20,000 more than its high estimate. The strength of the sale, said Christie’s Charles Curtis, establishes that Hong Kong has become “a global hub in the trading of fine and rare wines.”
Read more at Christie’s.
