The Asian economies riding a wave of growth are driving the luxury market. The leadership of the luxury market is very clearly shifting from the west to east. The face was clearly evident in the Christie’s 36-hour wine sale marathon. It was a very successful event even from Christie’s standards. A total of 1,023 lots and more than 800 fine wines were part of the wine auction in Hong Kong and New York respectively. The grand event for wine sale was held on the 9th and 10th of April. The wine collection available was one of the finest in the world and even included African wine.
The wine sale was a huge success by any standards and notched up a combined total of US$11,183,838. While the New York sale of Fine & Rare Wines Featuring Selections from Paul Mann and Lake Placid Lodge achieved US$2.9 million, the Hong Kong sale of Finest & Rarest Wines “A Tour of Bordeaux: Exceptional Wines from The SK Networks Collection†and “Featuring Superb Collection of Rare Pétrus and Mature DRC†totaled US$8.2 million. Charles Curtis, head of Wine for Asia at Christie’s confirmed that older vintages like the superb collection of 60 years of Château Mouton-Rothschild from 1945 to 2005 enjoy great demand in the region.
Robin Kelley O’Connor, Head of Wine for Christie’s Americas was proud of the unprecedented success achieved by the sale. There were instances of cross bidding on certain lots between the New York and Hong Kong sale clients. The highlight of the sale in America was a case of 1945 Latour which sold for $72,000, the highest price realized for the wine since Christie’s set the world record in 2007. The next sale of Fine and Rare Wines will be held on May 14 in New York.
Via: luxury-insider