A bottle of 1811 Chateau Lafite worth as much as US$40,000 will be auctioned later this month by Zachys of New York.
The bottle is part of a blockbuster sale at which Zachys will offer more than 17,000 bottles worth US$6-9m on 28-29 October.
The sale will be ‘the largest single-owner American cellar in both dollars and lots ever to be auctioned in America so far as we know,’ said Jeff Zacharia, Zachys’ president.
The 2,423 lots represent less than one-third of the cellar of the consignor, a West Coast collector, and constitute Zachys’ largest-ever sale, Zacharia said.
The consignor ‘sought out the finest and rarest new wines soon after release and was able to acquire quantities of rare wines that in some instances exceeded even importers’ allocations,’ Zachys said.
The first day will be given to rare Bordeaux and Château d’Yquem; Rhône, including Beaucastel, Bonneau, Guigal, Jaboulet and Rayas; Alsace, Madeira, Italy (Piedmont, Tuscany and Veneto), Spain, California and Australia.
Burgundy will occupy the second day. Buyers of whites will find Coche-Dury, Lafon, Leflaive, Ramonet and Sauzet. Fans of reds will find Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Seguin Manuel, Roumier, Jayer, Vogüé, Dugat, Domaine des Lambrays, Rousseau, Leroy and Dugat-Py.
Highlights include 1811, 1832, 1864 and 1865 Lafite and 1864 and 1865 Latour. Twenty-six vintages of Yquem span 1811 to 1997. There are rare magnums of Bordeaux’s right bank wines from 1900 to 1961: Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, L’Eglise-Clinet and Lafleur.
There are two numbered bottles of 1959 Richebourg from Henri Jayer’s personal cellar and 25 vintages of Comte Georges de Vogüé’s Musigny dating to 1919.
One 1811 Lafite (recorked at the chateau in 1986) is estimated at US$24,000 to US$40,000. A 50-case collection of 2000 Bordeaux, including all First Growths, is estimated at US$65,000 to US$100,000. Three magnums of 1950 Lafleur are gauged at US$28,000 to US$45,000.
One lot of single cases of 1995-1999 Jayer Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux is listed at US$60,000 to US$90,000.
Sotheby’s (with its former partner, Sherry-Lehmann) set the world’s auction record with the US$14.4m sale of 48,000 bottles owned by Christen Sveaas, a Norwegian businessman, in New York in 1999.
Sotheby’s highest-grossing auction ever in London was the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection of 18,000-plus bottles, which grossed US$6,056,780 in 1997. Christie’s highest-grossing wine sale anywhere was US$11,290,054 – the previous world record -when 19,000 bottles from Sveaas were sold in London in 1997.
Zachys, a major Northeastern merchant and auction house, is based in Scarsdale NY, a suburb of New York City. The sale will be held at Restaurant Daniel in Manhattan.
NB US$1.00=€0.837
Written by Howard G Goldberg in New York
