Fine wine news

The world's largest auction houses have reported that this year's fine wine market was stable, despite a disappointing second half of the year.

Yearly results show that there was particularly growth in London and Hong Kong.

Indeed, a Hong Kong sale of a 300-bottle vertical of Lafite 1981-2005 fetched HK$4.2 million (£345,000), Christie's top lot of the year. It expects total fine wine sales to exceed US$90 million (£57 million) after achieving an average sell rate of 89 per cent. This is a record year for the auction house.

"We expect the market to continue to stabilize in the first quarter of 2012, leading to renewed demand internationally throughout the rest of the year," commented David Elswood, international head of wine at Christie's.

"We are witnessing an increase not only in the number of private buyers participating in our sales, but notably an increase in those that are becoming regular clients, and we foresee a continuation of that trend with more and more buyers engaging in this market."

Meanwhile, Sotheby's almost reached the same total it achieved in 2010, at US$85,467,096, with its strongest sales coming from Hong Kong and London.

It was recently reported that Acker Merrall & Condit celebrated becoming the top fine wine seller of the year, with predicted global revenues of more than US$110 million.

Posted by Brian Hughes