News

Reprinted from Wine Spectator

March 31, 2005

Worldwide Auctions Exceed the $100 Million Mark

By Peter D. Meltzer

For the first time since 1999, worldwide sales of fine and rare wines at auction topped the $100 million mark. According to figures released by the major auction houses, wine sales totaled $109 million in 2004 – a 13 percent increase over 2003. Internet wine auctions amounted to $19 million.

Overall, the Wine Spectator Auction Index appreciated 11 percent, a rate greater than the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ, which gained 3 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

New York firms accounted for the largest share of revenues, with a combined total of $65 million – up 24 percent from last year. For the first time since entering the auction arena two years go, Zachys grabbed the lead nationally with $26 million in sales, followed by Acker Merrall & Condit at $17 million and NYWinesChristie’s at $15 million.

Christie’s sold $16 million worth of wine in London and led worldwide with a total of $36 million, an 18 percent increase over last year. Sotheby’s sold $8 million worth of fine wine in London (down 24 percent), and its New York affiliate, Aulden Cellars-Sotheby’s, recorded $13 million in sales – just slightly less than last year. WineBid.com prevailed on the Web with $16 million.

An increase in the value and volume of consignments accounted for the uptick in auction revenues. Throughout 2004, the auction record book was rewritten as pristine consignments of impeccable provenance went on the block. Last June, at NYWinesChristie’s, the private cellar of Doris Duke grossed $3.8 million and was 100 percent sold. The top lot was a case of DRC Romanee-Conti 1934 that fetched $111,625. In October, a case of 1978 Romanee-Conti sold for $88,125.

In May, a record $76,375 was paid at Aulden Cellars-Sotheby’s for a case of Chateau Cheval-Blanc 1947. In November, a 130-liter bottle of Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Private Reserve 2001, dubbed "the largest bottle of wine in the world," sold there for $55,812.

Zachys made headlines in December at a sale that realized $4.8 million. A superlot of DRC Romanee-Conti 1999 (consisting of one methuselah, one jeroboam, six magnums and 12 bottles) was snapped up by an anonymous collector for a whopping $211,500. At Zachys’ maiden Los Angeles sale in October, a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem 1847 sold for a staggering $71,675 – the highest price ever paid for a bottle of white wine worldwide.

Almost lost in the litany of record prices was the fact that numerous case-lots of good quality mature wines could be snapped up for well under the $500 mark, often below retail.