Burgundy continued to dominate the fine wine auction scene in 2018, accounting for 42 out of the 50 most expensive bottles sold by online auctioneer iDealwine during the year.
That figure was up from 32 in 2017, leaving Bordeaux with only two wines in iDealwine’s top 50 – down from 15 the year before, with a resurgent Rhône taking the other six places.
Top position went to a bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2005, which sold for €16,173, followed by a magnum of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 at €15,808.
DRC accounted for more than half of the Burgundy bottles on the list (22), with 10 coming from its eponymous Grand Cru. Henri Jayer and Domaine Leflaive accounted for three bottles each.
In 2018, DRC also helped auction house Sotheby’s break its sales records.
The showing by the Rhône – six wines in the top 50, up from two in 2017 – was entirely due to the performance of older vintages of Jean-Louis Chave’s Cuvée Cathelin Hermitage.
Among the most expensive lots (rather than bottles) sold by iDealwine during the year, Bordeaux accounted for 30 out of the top 50 (Burgundy 18, Rhône two), reflecting the greater volume of the region’s wines and the tendency to sell them in multiple-bottle lots.
A 12-bottle case of Château Latour 1961, sold for €46,816, topped the list. Latour and Pétrus dominated the Bordeaux showing, accounting for nine and 13 lots respectively.
Reds from the Côte de Nuits dominated the Burgundy rankings, supplemented by several whites from Montrachet on the Côte de Beaune.
The highest-place Côte de Beaune red was a 1978 Volnay Clos des Ducs from Domaine du Marquis d’Angerville, a six-bottle lot sold for €6,834 and placed 55th.
