| Top Bordeaux Wine Prices Hold Firm at Sotheby’s London Sale |
By Guy Collins
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — Prices of top Bordeaux wines from the benchmark 2000 vintage rose or held firm at a Sotheby’s fine-wine auction in London this week, its first of the year.
A case of Chateau Latour fetched 5,290 pounds ($10,450) and a Margaux 5,060 pounds, both five percent above the level achieved at a similar auction last September. A Lafite sold for 4,830 pounds, up two percent from a November sale, while a Mouton Rothschild sold for 3,680 pounds, matching the top end of the range it reached at a Sotheby’s sale in London last month.
Bordeaux prices have surged in the past year as rising investment-banking bonuses and a landmark 2005 vintage have fueled demand for other recent years now available for drinking. The Liv-ex 100 index of investment-grade wines, which is more than 90 percent weighted toward Bordeaux, rose 49 percent in 2006 after an 18 percent gain the previous year.
“The market’s holding firm for 2000s, 1995s and 1996s,” said Peter Lunzer, director of the Wine Investment Fund, who manages 10 million pounds. “Those are the most interesting at the moment.”
The Sotheby’s sale raised a total of 725,000 pounds. The top price on a single lot was 21,850 pounds paid for a case of Chateau Petrus 1990 from Pomerol, the same price that a similar case fetched at auction in November.
A case of 1996 Lafite sold for 4,370 pounds this week, matching the top end of its range at the November auction, while a 1995 from the same chateau sold for 2,760 pounds, up nine percent from the September auction. A case of 1996 Latour fetched 3,910 pounds, up six percent from a similar sale in September.
`Sky’s the Limit’
“It’s the top end that has the potential for over-reach,” said Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby’s fine-wine department. “There’s polarization in the market. At the very top, the sky’s the limit.”
Some wines did drop from previous highs. A single case of 1996 Margaux sold for 3,450 pounds this week, down 17 percent from the 4,140 pounds achieved in December, while a 1996 Mouton Rothschild fetched 1,610 pounds this month, down four percent from 1,668 pounds in December.
“The best value by miles is Mouton ’96,” Lunzer said. “I still think it’s hugely undervalued.”
Outside the top Medoc growths, other wines from the 2000 vintage also attracted buyers. A case of Chateau La Conseillante Pomerol sold for 1,150 pounds, up 14 percent from its level at a Sotheby’s September auction here. And a Chateau Angelus Saint- Emilion fetched 1,035 pounds, down two percent from last September.
Nine of the 10 most expensive lots were sold to U.K. buyers, which Sutcliffe said was unusual. Normally there is a more international spread among bidders for top wines.
Historic Bottles
The auction also contained some exceptional historic bottles. A collection of 1906 Cheval Blanc Saint-Emilion sold for 1,610 pounds a bottle. All had slight wine loss and label soiling typical of wines of their age.
“Those years of the first part of the 1900s, you hardly ever see any more,” Sutcliffe said. “You’ve got to like mature wines. They have a fleeting bouquet. Each time you open them, it’s an adventure.”
A total of 11 bottles of 1945 Haut-Brion sold for 7,130 pounds, beating their top estimate and equating to a price per bottle of 648 pounds. That was only six percent more than the 613 pounds per bottle paid for a half case of 1989 Haut-Brion, which fetched 3,680 pounds.
The single most-unusual wine of the auction was an 1821 Grand Constance, a South African sweet wine from Constantia which, according to Sotheby’s, was a favorite of Napoleon’s in exile on St. Helena, as well as being found in cellars of most of the European and Russian royal households of the time.
The bottle in the sale dated from the year of Napoleon’s death, and sold for 2,990 pounds, fractionally below the low end of its estimate. “The Constantia was fantastic,” Sutcliffe said. “It’s very rare. We hardly ever get one.”
