Bordeaux wine auction for Paris victims: 10k euros raised

Classified Bordeaux châteaux in the Graves area have raised more than 10,000 euros for victims of the Paris terror attacks by auctioning double magnums of their wines.

All 14 member estates of the Crus Classés de Graves donated double magnums in the wine auction for Paris victims, which raised €10,100 (£7,300) and ran online between 1 and 11 December.

The sale was organised by iDealwine and the donation was made via charity body Fondation de France on 13 December, one month after 130 people were killed and many more injured in series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

Crus Classés de Graves wines, auction for Paris victims

The line-up of double magnums from the Crus Classés de Graves Paris auction. Credit: Crus Classés de Graves

Around 300 bidders from 20 countries, including France, UK, Sweden and Hong Kong took part in the auction, organisers said.

The top selling lot went according to classification with a double magnum of first growth Château of Haut-Brion 2011 selling for €3,002.

Bordeaux 2011 as a vintage shone in the auction, even if the year as a whole has struggled in the shadow of the lauded Bordeaux 2010 and 2009 vintages. A double magnum of La Mission Haut-Brion 2011 sold for €1,574, while the third best selling lot was Smith Haut-Lafitte 2011, at €666.

‘We wanted to do something in response to the atrocities, and to show that art and culture, of which wine is a part, can be a form of resistance and solidarity,’ said Jean Jacques Bonnie, president of the Crus Classés de Graves as well as co-owner and manager of Château Malartic-Lagravière.