Charity Wine Auction Brings $$$$$$

Scott Reyburn of Bloomberg is reporting that a 3,000 bottle charitable donation of wine by a Belgian billionaire Albert Frere sold at Sotheby's London for $1.8 million. The donated wine was in support of the Frere's Charles-Albert Frere Foundation which supports children in difficulty and disadvantaged adults. The 3000 bottle collection was sold in 454 lots, with a 97% sell through rate. The top lot was a 12- bottle case of Chateau Petrus from the 1989 vintage which sold for $48,000.00. The estimate for the lot was $24,000.00 to $32,000.00.

Recent wine sales from around the globe have been relatively strong compared to other auction market categories. Reyburn reports many of the lots went to Asian buyers. Luxury items and branding still have a appeal to consumers, and if the quality is there, consumers and collectors are willing to spend.

As appraisers we need to be aware of and familiar with bottles of investment grade wine.  Estate appraisals assignments for upper income level individuals may in fact reveal substantial value in wine collections.  Auction houses should also be aware of the popularity and collectiblity of wine and private wine cellars with valuable inventories.

Reyburn states

Wine is one of the few international auction markets that have maintained price levels and success rates during the economic crisis. Boosted by Asian buying, an average of more than 95 percent of bottles offered at wine auctions held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s International in London, New York and Hong Kong this year have found buyers.

“The market seems to have gone up a gear since the summer,” said Stephen Mould, Sotheby’s European head of wine, in an interview after the auction. “I would guess at least half the lots at this sale went to Asia,” he said.

The sale, expected to fetch as much as 983,480 pounds ($1.6 million), was the third held by Sotheby’s to boost a charity named for Frere’s son, who died in a car crash 10 years ago. The Charles-Albert Frere Foundation supports children in difficulty and disadvantaged adults.

Frere, 83, is co-owner of the Chateau Cheval Blanc vineyard in Bordeaux with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s biggest luxury group. A six-bottle case of Cheval Blanc 1990, sourced, like all the wines in the auction, directly from its chateau, sold for 8,050 pounds. In June, a 12-bottle case of the same vintage procured from Cheval Blanc sold at Sotheby’s, London, for 11,270 pounds, said Mould.

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