Ex-HK No. 2 felled over cellar sells US$6m wine
Source: AFP |
March 18, 2013, Monday
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A FORMER Hong Kong politician sold part of his rare wine collection for over US$6 million, auction house Christie's said yesterday, after a scandal over a wine cellar at his home was partly blamed for his loss in last year's leadership race.
The city's former number two, Henry Tang, was hit by a series of gaffes in 2012. The discovery of an illegal basement containing the cellar at his luxury home made him deeply unpopular.
The two-day auction, fetching US$6.22 million, included a wide selection of Burgundy with vintages ranging from 1949 to 2010, Christie's said, and dozens of wine aficionados attended with others bidding online.
The highlights of the sale were six magnums of Romanee Conti Vintage 1995 which sold for US$156,695 and 12 bottles of Montrachet Vintage 1978 which sold for US$109,687.
Though there were thousands of bottles on offer, they represented just a small portion of Tang's collection, the auction house said.
"He's at a point where there's enough wine that he can share them with joy," Christie's head of wine in China Simon Tam said at the sale.
In an interview with Tang last month, the Wall Street Journal said none of the bottles in the Christie's sale were stored in the illegal cellar.
Tang is a well-known wine connoisseur who abolished duties on wine imports to Hong Kong in 2008, helping to turn the city into a regional wine center. Chief secretary until September 2011, Tang competed for Hong Kong's top job in the run-up to the chief executive election last year.
But his campaign began with a public admission of marital infidelity and suffered another blow with the discovery of the unauthorized basement, which reportedly also included a Japanese-style bath and a workout room.
Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, regularly prosecutes residents for making illegal additions to their houses.
The city's former number two, Henry Tang, was hit by a series of gaffes in 2012. The discovery of an illegal basement containing the cellar at his luxury home made him deeply unpopular.
The two-day auction, fetching US$6.22 million, included a wide selection of Burgundy with vintages ranging from 1949 to 2010, Christie's said, and dozens of wine aficionados attended with others bidding online.
The highlights of the sale were six magnums of Romanee Conti Vintage 1995 which sold for US$156,695 and 12 bottles of Montrachet Vintage 1978 which sold for US$109,687.
Though there were thousands of bottles on offer, they represented just a small portion of Tang's collection, the auction house said.
"He's at a point where there's enough wine that he can share them with joy," Christie's head of wine in China Simon Tam said at the sale.
In an interview with Tang last month, the Wall Street Journal said none of the bottles in the Christie's sale were stored in the illegal cellar.
Tang is a well-known wine connoisseur who abolished duties on wine imports to Hong Kong in 2008, helping to turn the city into a regional wine center. Chief secretary until September 2011, Tang competed for Hong Kong's top job in the run-up to the chief executive election last year.
But his campaign began with a public admission of marital infidelity and suffered another blow with the discovery of the unauthorized basement, which reportedly also included a Japanese-style bath and a workout room.
Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, regularly prosecutes residents for making illegal additions to their houses.
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