au Pétrus 1990 fetched $45,938, and 12 bottles of the same producer’s 1989 vintage sold for $42,875, to lead a Sotheby’s wine auction in New York dominated by buyers from North and South America. The auction shows renewed buyer appetite for older Bordeaux vintages and rare burgundies, following price declines for younger wines, particularly first-growth claret. The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine Index has retreated for 14 consecutive months, resulting in a 13-per-cent drop since March 2013.Both top lots went to a Latin American buyer, while nine bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild 1982 Bordeaux sold for $27,563 to a US trade client, according to an emailed statement from Sotheby’s. Six magnums of La Tâche 1998 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti burgundy sold for $24,500, while a single bottle of Romanée-Conti 1990 DRC fetched $19,600.
The sales reflect “really strong prices for the best producers and best domaines in burgundy”, according to Duncan Sterling, head of New York wine auctions at Sotheby’s, in a phone interview. “The American market is looking healthy.”
Pétrus 1990 more than tripled in price on the London-based Liv-ex online wine exchange from 2005 to 2011, reaching £36,000 ($61,000) a case in May 2011, at the height of the bull market for Bordeaux, before retreating to £31,728 last July.
Collectors have shunned the three most recent Bordeaux vintages, deterred by high prices and poor weather, which harmed the crop during the growing season.
American Buyers
North American buyers accounted for 58 per cent of the sale on 21 June, which fetched a total of $1.72 million, according to Sotheby’s. Asian buyers made up 25 per cent, South American buyers 16 per cent, and European buyers 1 per cent.
Other top lots included a case of Château Haut-Brion 1989, rated one of the estate’s top three vintages of the past 25 years by US wine critic Robert Parker, which sold for $17,150, and a single magnum of La Tâche 1971 DRC, which went for $14,700.
