Christie's NY wine sale raises $3.6 million

Published: 16 November, 2010

Christie's New York Fine & Rare Wine sale raised more than $3.6 million (£2.3 million) ? the top lot was a Château Lafite-Rothschild vertical which sold for $120,000 (£74,534) to an Asian private collector.

The two-day sale on November 12 and 13 raised $3,652,140 (£2,268,410) ? the highest total Christie's New York wine sales this year. The vertical of Château Lafite-Rothschild from vintages 1996 through 2003 achieved the top price over the weekend, achieveing almost $50,000 over the estimate.

Charles Curtis, MW, head of wine sales for Christie's Asia and North America, said: "The sale demonstrated once again the extraordinary vigour of this market. DRC and Chateau Lafite continued to show their strength, with a pristine vertical of Lafite from 1996 - 2003 selling for $120,000 against a high estimate of $70,000.

"Also of note was the consignment of Chateau Palmer direct from one of the proprietors, Mahler-Besse. Most of these wines sold well above the high estimate as buyers recognized the added value of this exceptional provenance. Another interesting surprise was the great strength of the prices achieved for old Madeira, with the rarest wines selling at or above the high estimate: six bottles of 1795 Barbeito Terrantez at $21,600, a dozen 1830 Malmsey at $18,000 and 1827 Bual for $16,800, both from Quinta de Serrado, and a dozen 1900 Boal from Manuel de Sousa Herdeiros for $11,400.

"This sale also saw the re-emergence of the premium for large-format bottles, with five case parcels of Latour, Margaux and Mouton from 1996 all selling above the high estimate, as well as a number of large formats from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, including rare magnum assortment cases and a jeroboam of Romanée-Conti 2000, which sold for $28,800."

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