Wine Auction Season Heats Up With New Players, Record Prices

By Elin McCoy Sept. 19,2006 -- The New York wine auction season started with four sales last week and is set to become a record breaker. ``This is the greatest season ever for offerings,'' says Richard Brierley, 33, head of North American sales at Christie's International in New York. ``We're seeing bottles that haven't ever been traded, extremely rare items coming to market. That's when you get excited.'' Just hype? Well, consider the extraordinary private collection that came on the block at Christie's on Sept. 16, including 26 vintages of sought-after blue chip Chateau Petrus (five magnums of 1982 went for $64,625), 12 vintages of cult Bordeaux Le Pin (a case of 1990, $47,000), and 10 of scarce white Burgundy Domaine de la Romanee Conti Montrachet (five bottles of 1989, $11,750). The day before, Scarsdale, New York-based Zachys knocked down two rare bottles of 1959 Joseph Drouhin Musigny for $1,659, almost three times the high estimate.

And those are just the season openers.

Stellar lots that will be up for grabs at more than a dozen sales in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago between now and mid- December include six-bottle cases of 10 vintages of California cult Screaming Eagle (Christie's, Nov. 2), a case of half bottles of 1945 Mouton-Rothschild (Zachys, Nov. 1) and a jeroboam of 1995 Romanee Conti (Hart Davis Hart, Chicago, Sept. 29-30).

Seller's Market

Normally these are the sorts of bottles that are available only when pried from the cold, clutching fingers of dead collectors. But what's luring this amazing stuff out of padlocked cellars is the wine-price boom. Last spring saw the most ever paid for a case of wine at a commercial auction -- $170,375 for 1985 Romanee Conti at Christie's (almost $14,200 a bottle). ``It's a great time to be a seller,'' says Michael Davis, 52, chief executive officer of Chicago's Hart Davis Hart, with barely disguised glee. ``For buyers it's a treasure trove -- if they have deep pockets.'' One measure of the hot market is the portion of lots sold in a given auction. Christie's recent sale hit 99 percent, Zachys, 98 percent. Last spring, Christie's had so much success with the inaugural evening auction -- 100 percent sold -- that it is taking the idea to Los Angeles at the end of September and hosting another in New York on Nov. 2. Not to be outdone, Zachys is holding its ``Provenance'' sale at New York's Daniel restaurant the night before, followed by two daylong sessions on Nov. 2 and 3. The two November evening sales will be the highlights of the season. Between them, says wine adviser Kevin Swersey of the Connoisseur's Advisory Group, ``the quality of wines on offer is off the charts.''

New Collectors

Prices are expected to climb even more because, on the demand side, there have never been more exuberant new collectors ready to play, not just from East Asia and Russia, but also Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, even Indonesia and Iceland. Who knew? ``The wine market is global now,'' says Morrell's auctioneer David Molyneux-Berry, 59. ``Everybody wants the same things, and they're chasing a finite number of bottles.'' And while it takes very serious money these days to develop a great art collection, you still don't need mega-bucks to build a stunning wine collection. The season's big question is how much effect the astronomically high 2005 Bordeaux futures prices will have on bids for more mature wines. ``Will prices for older vintages of Bordeaux that are ready to drink now, like '82, look reasonable?'' asks Michael Jessen, Zachys' auction director. At Acker Merrall & Condit's sale on Sept. 9 at New York's Cru restaurant, many older Bordeaux sold for 25 percent to 50 percent more than just three months ago, according to auction director John Kapon. At Zachys, some '96 Bordeaux were up as much as 75 percent. Is this a definite trend? The coming weeks will answer that.

Best wishes,

Suman Mukherjee

India.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SumanSpeaks/