A rare and highly sought-after case of 1988 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti could fetch up to £40,000 when it is auctioned by Bonhams later this month.
The ‘exceptionally unusual’ unbroken 12-bottle case of wine from the Romanée-Conti vineyard is being sold by a private French collector at the London auction house’s Fine and Rare Wines sale on 25 March.
Head of department Richard Harvey said the case was still sealed with its metal banding when opened by Bonhams for inspection.
‘It’s very rare to find complete cases like this, especially at 20-odd years old,’ he told decanter.com. ‘I haven’t seen a case like this in the ten years that I’ve worked at Bonhams.’
Other highlights in the sale include magnums of Chateau Latour 1964 at £3,000-3,600 per half-dozen, and an assortment of 1989 wines from Romanée-Conti, including bottles and magnums of La Tâche.
Harvey said rising auction prices had helped to attract more sellers into the market, overcoming continental European reservations about the weakness of the pound.
And buyers were surfacing from all over the world – not only from Asia, but also from South America, for example.
‘We’re also seeing more interest from the UK, from London and even from buyers within half a mile of our sales room in Bond Street,’ Harvey added.
Written by Richard Woodard
