Hong Kong - Wine lovers from across Asia showed their love
for a fine vintage is recession-proof when they bid up to almost
40,000 US dollars for each rare bottle, auctioneers said Sunday.
One unnamed bidder bought three jeroboams of La Tache Vintage 1990
red burgundy for a total of 118,628 dollars at the auction held
Saturday, according to organizers.
Another paid 274,718 dollars for a collection of 144 bottles from
the same sought-after winemaker Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, working
out to about 1,907 dollars per bottle.
A case of 12 initial vintage 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet
Sauvignon fetched 112,384 dollars, or 9,365 dollars each, while a
case of six bottles of Krug Vintage Champagne, which came with
tickets to Paris and a stay at the Krug maison, brought 51,197
dollars.
Around 300 collectors and traders from Hong Kong, Singapore,
China, Japan and the US packed the auction, the second to be held
this year by wine merchant Acker Merrall & Condit at the Island
Shangri-La Hotel.
Held one day after Hong Kong officially went into recession,
prices failed to reach those paid at the US wine merchant's first
Hong Kong auction held in May.
Saturday's sale realized an estimated total of 6.7 million US
dollars compared with 8.2 million in May - which at the time was the
highest total for any wine auction ever held in Asia.
Earlier in the week, the wine merchant acknowledged the decline in
the economy could affect sales by reducing the reserve prices of the
lots by more than 20 per cent, meaning that bidding started at a
lower price.
But John Kapon, Acker Merrall & Condit's president and auction
director, said the sale had gone exceedingly well with around 90 per
cent of the 950 lots being sold, most achieving the low end of their
estimated price range.
'There wasn't the magic we had in May but it went very well and I
think everyone was pleased given the doom and gloom out there. There
were some individual collectors, traders and a casino owner or two
that got some great deals,' he said.
'The world has proven historically that things go down a little
bit but they always come back higher than ever before and I think the
smart buyers knew that and they were bidding accordingly.'
Kapon said he believed wine was still a good investment and one of
the best 'liquid assets' in the current climate.
'Wine has always held its value. In my 10 years of business it has
only gone one way and that is up. Given that fact, I think it is
always going to hold its own and it's just a question of buying from
the right producers and the right vintages,' he said.
'At least if you have a great wine collection you won't wake up
the following day and find out it is worthless and if worse comes to
the worst you can always drink it.'
Other highlights of Saturday's auction included a full cage of 504
bottles of Krug Grande Cuvee which went for 76,171 US dollars.
USA
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