Dozens of cases of ultra-collectible Lafite, Margaux, Domaine de la Romanee Conti and other wines come under the hammer in Hong Kong next month as Andrew Lloyd Webber puts part of his cellar up for auction.
The auction takes place at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in January: the composer of Cats, Evita and Phantom of the Opera is hoping to capitalise on the wine fever currently gripping bidders in the region.
‘I am very happy that Sotheby’s is bringing part of my precious wine collection to Hong Kong, particularly given that many wine connoisseurs are now in Asia,’ he said.
In 1997, a tranche of his heavily French cellar was sold in London by Sotheby’s for $6.1m (£3.2m). It was the highest grossing wine auction of its time.
The current sale, featuring 748 lots, is expected to bring in up to HK$32m (£2.6m).
On offer are a litany of coveted wines in top vintages: lots of 10 cases of the first growths
on the 2005 vintage, Petrus 2000, Cheval Blanc 1982, Domaine de la
Romanee Conti La Tache, and Domaine Leflaive.
Many of the older wines have been cellared at Sydmonton Court, Lord Lloyd Webber’s listed 16th century home in Berkshire – while younger wines have been kept in professional storage.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber wine collection comprises the first half of a two-day sale that will also feature the more wine from Henning Thoresen’s Bordeaux Winebank 2000 Collection.
The first part of this collection, sold in New York in mid-November, broke numerous records – just after a bottle of 1869 Chateau Lafite fetched HK$1,815,000 (£151,250) in Hong Kong.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong wine sales for the year totalled HK$410.5m (£34.5m), nearly three times the total for 2009. Sotheby’s also claims to be the only auction house to have achieved 11 consecutive 100%-sold wine auctions in Asia since 2009.
Written by Maggie Rosen
