Sotheby’s first wine auction of 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on 23 January 2010 fetched a record-breaking HK$52,921,770 or USD 6, 784, 842 – well above expectations.  The 10 hour auction saw buyers from Hong Kong, Mainland China and all over Asia bidding for 840 lots. This auction represents Sotheby’s highest total sales for a single day wine sale, with a 100% sell through.

It was interesting to see the trend of online bidders gaining significance, with 66% of the lots sold to online bidders not in attendance. Sotheby’s also reports that top lots were sold to private collectors and connoisseurs from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan.

Lots that fetched the highest prices were:

• Lot 474  Château Pétrus 2000, 12 bottles which sold for HK$411,400
• Lot 467 Château Pétrus 2005, 12 bottles which sold for HK$387,200
• Lot 506 Château Pétrus 506, 3 mags which sold for hK$363,000
• Lot 81, Château Lafite 1982, 1 imperial, 6 liter bottles achieved sale of HK$363,000
• Lot 153, Château Latour 1961, 1 jero-4.5 liter bottles sold for HK$338,800

Serena Sutcliffe, MW, Head of Sotheby’s International Wine department, commented that the Classic Cellar from a Great American Collector IV is the most important wine collection that Sotheby’s has ever offered at auction, and is a great start for Sotheby’s line-up of further Single Owner Sales scheduled for Spring and Fall in 2010.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong Wine Upcoming Auctions

• 3 April 2010  Single Owner Wine Sale
• 4 April 2010 Single Owner Wine Sale

We sat down with Vinfolio Hong Kong Managing Director Anthony Mak last week to talk about Vinfolio’s Hong Kong plans. After the recent announcement of the company’s series A US$4.5 million investment and their expansion into the Hong Kong market, we thought Hong Kong wine enthusiasts would like to know there will be a new major player entering the market in the next couple of months.

Mr. Mak is in heavy preparations for the Hong Kong launch of Vinfolio.hk – the website will be in English and Chinese. The company has held off on launching their online wine shop until now because of the recent economic downturn. Vinfolio Hong Kong will also launch a new Hong Kong wine storage operation and online wine auction component early next year.

Their auction service launched in July in the US, and has many Hong Kong users, and is different to the eBay model where its seller-to-buyer with no intermediary. Vinfolio’s auction service has them in the middle brokering the deal for wines ranging from small quantities of wine in the US$50/bottle price and higher.

UPDATE 10/06:

Vinfolio CEO Steve Bachmann just posted new information on their Hong Kong plans on the Vinfolio site:

In short, Vinfolio Hong Kong will essentially become a local wine store to Hong Kong/Macau residents. No overseas shipping need be arranged and no minimum purchase quantity will apply. We will list all available items in a new “Vinfolio Hong Kong” listing on Winesearcher, WinePrices.com, and Global Wine Stocks.

Of course, our U.S. online wine store will continue to be available to Hong Kong customers if they prefer and the Vinfolio Marketplace will continue to be there exclusively. Just keep in mind that those prices are in U.S. dollars for pick-up/delivery in San Francisco so onward shipping costs to Hong Kong are extra (whereas this is already included in HK site pricing). U.S. purchases come with six months free storage in one of our climate-controlled facilities. Initially, we will not ship to other countries from Hong Kong so customers in other Asian countries will need to continue to order from the U.S. site or make their own arrangements from Hong Kong

You can read the rest here.

Serious wine investors and collectors will be at the Mandarin Oriental this Saturday for Zachys Magnificent Wine auction.  Wines that will auctioned include collections of Timothy C. Forbes and the Bacchus Partners. Featuring over 800 lots of the world’s finest wines, this auction will start at 9.30am at The Connaught Room at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong.

For further details, contact Zachys Asia to reserve your seat or you can participate to bid live online at www.zachys.com

Details:

Zachys Asia Hong Kong

Call 3101 4683 from 10:00am and 6:00pm, or email Katherine@trimaran.com.hk or Benjamin Barraclough at bbarraclough@zachys.com.