Christie’s finest and rarest wines auction

Christie’s held a finest and rarest wines auction in Hong Kong spanning April 9 to April 10. In most instances the lots exceeded the lower end of the estimate, and in a number of spectacular occasions realised up to twice the estimate. Sixty vintages of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945-2005 had a Hong Kong dollar range of HK$400,000 to HK$600,000. The lot realised HK$960,000. Now you might immediately jump to the conclusion the wines headed off to China. In fact, the buyer was a Latin American private collector. Six bottles of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg brought an astonishing HK$540,000 (though below the top estimate) which went to an Asian private buyer (not Chinese). However, apart from two lots of 2000 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (the buyer was anonymous) all of the remaining lots bar two went to Chinese private buyers.

FYI: AU$1 = HK$8.32 (at time of publishing)