A wine from western Australia has sold for a record breaking price at auction.
The 1973 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon – the winery’s first vintage – fetched AU$2,301 (£962) last week at Langton’s online auction in Melbourne, the highest price ever paid for a post-1970 bottle of Australian wine.
A 1974 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon went for AU$1,726 in the same auction.
‘Moss Wood is regarded as an Australian First Growth and was classified as Exceptional by Langton’s in 2005,’ said Langton’s managing director Stewart Langton.
‘The 1973 and 1974 vintage is extremely rare with only a few bottles in existence. Clearly collectors have competed against each other at any cost to secure this incredible fragment of Western Australian wine history.’
The record price could not have come at a better time for Langton’s, which is holding its first en primeur auction on 9 November.
The online futures sale, 2007 Great Wine Estates of Western Australia, is the first of its kind in Australia and promises to attract significant interest from Australian and international wine collectors with market confidence high following the auction house’s recent record-breaking results.
The sale will include 2007 en primeur vintages of Cape Mentelle, Cullen, Devil’s Lair, Howard Park, Plantagenet and Moss Wood amongst others.
Andrew Caillard at Langtons said: ‘Margaret River and the Lower Great Southern region enjoyed an excellent 2007 vintage. The winemakers are very excited about the overall quality of this vintage and the record price for the 1973 and 1974 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon will improve overall market confidence.’
Written by Lucy Shaw
