Bidders at an auction of wines from famed Catalan restaurant El Bulli will now also have the chance to secure lunch with chef Ferran Adria and a selection of memorabilia.
Signed and sealed: El Bulli chef’s jackets are now in the sale
Auction house Sotheby’s has announced a number of additional lots for the sales, due to be held in Hong Kong on 3 April and New York on 26 April, on top of the 8,800-plus wines from the Spanish restaurant’s extensive cellars.
As well as lunch with Adria – with an opening bid of US$5,000 – new lots include four El Bulli chef’s jackets signed by him (opening bid: $1,000) and a set of El Bulli knives ($5,000).
There’s also a large selection of menus, wine lists and assorted stationery (from $250 each), various mesh, corrugated and Baroque metal trays and even ‘crockery for spherical olives’ ($150 each).
Sotheby’s hopes to raise well over $1.5m from the auctions, with wines including magnums of Chateau Latour 2005, rare sherries and a selection of Burgundies from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.
Each bottle will be adorned with a specially designed El Bulli sticker, and many will be signed by Adria and business partner Juli Soler.
The money raised will go to the El Bulli Foundation, a gastronomic research and innovation organisation set up by Adria after he closed the restaurant in July 2011.
Written by Richard Woodard