Fine wines fetch a pretty penny
Source: Agencies |
January 23, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME US$5.6 million worth of fine wines from the cellars of British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber were sold in a sale at Sotheby's Hong Kong yesterday amid ebullient demand from Asian and online bidders.
With Hong Kong emerging as a global wine auction hub overtaking stalwarts like New York and London, the Lloyd Webber sale - 100 percent sold by lot - again underscored a voracious and growing thirst for the world's finest vintages amongst wealthy Asian, particularly Chinese buyers.
In another telling sign, a two-day auction in Hong Kong by leading US wine sellers Acker Merrall & Condit fetched a bumper US$10.8 million for 1,200 lots of wines, with rare Chateau Petrus and Lafite vintages shining through.
At the Lloyd Webber sale in the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a mix of Western and Asian collectors, some sipping wine, from Webber's personal collection and feasting on a gourmet buffet spread, seemed in high spirits to propel sales of the 746 lots well above the pre-sale estimate of US$4.1 million. Fifty-three percent of lots were bid on by online bidders.
"We sold Andrew Lloyd Webber's wine collection before in 1997 in London and that was an inflection point in the wine market when wine prices really took off," said Robert Sleigh, Sotheby's senior director of Asian wines.
"It's obviously taken until 2011 for him to realize that once again, he has unfortunately too much wine that he's never going to drink and so we've been offered the opportunity to offer this wine in Hong Kong, which is the logical location as the world's strongest wine market right now."
All top 10 lots went to Asian private buyers, including a 12-bottle case of 1982 Chateau Petrus hammered off for US$77,564, while a dozen bottles of 1982 Chateau Lafite fetched US$58,949.
"I hope the new owners enjoy my wines as much as I have and look forward to reacquainting myself with them in restaurants all over China when 'Cats' starts its national tour in Mandarin," Lloyd Webber said in a statement.
With Hong Kong emerging as a global wine auction hub overtaking stalwarts like New York and London, the Lloyd Webber sale - 100 percent sold by lot - again underscored a voracious and growing thirst for the world's finest vintages amongst wealthy Asian, particularly Chinese buyers.
In another telling sign, a two-day auction in Hong Kong by leading US wine sellers Acker Merrall & Condit fetched a bumper US$10.8 million for 1,200 lots of wines, with rare Chateau Petrus and Lafite vintages shining through.
At the Lloyd Webber sale in the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a mix of Western and Asian collectors, some sipping wine, from Webber's personal collection and feasting on a gourmet buffet spread, seemed in high spirits to propel sales of the 746 lots well above the pre-sale estimate of US$4.1 million. Fifty-three percent of lots were bid on by online bidders.
"We sold Andrew Lloyd Webber's wine collection before in 1997 in London and that was an inflection point in the wine market when wine prices really took off," said Robert Sleigh, Sotheby's senior director of Asian wines.
"It's obviously taken until 2011 for him to realize that once again, he has unfortunately too much wine that he's never going to drink and so we've been offered the opportunity to offer this wine in Hong Kong, which is the logical location as the world's strongest wine market right now."
All top 10 lots went to Asian private buyers, including a 12-bottle case of 1982 Chateau Petrus hammered off for US$77,564, while a dozen bottles of 1982 Chateau Lafite fetched US$58,949.
"I hope the new owners enjoy my wines as much as I have and look forward to reacquainting myself with them in restaurants all over China when 'Cats' starts its national tour in Mandarin," Lloyd Webber said in a statement.
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