This year’s auction took place at Christie’s King Street headquarters, London on Thursday 10 December, two months later than usual due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The total realised this year was raised from 91 lots and will be donated to a number of charities supported by Decanter this year including WaterAid, The Drinks Trust, Change Please and Centrepoint.
Although this year’s bidding took place in person in the Christie’s auction room, the majority of bidders joined remotely via telephone or online through Christie’s LIVE™ digital platform where they could view the live streaming video of the auction. This proved particularly successful with Christie’s Associate Specialist Charles Foley commenting, ‘there were more active bidders this year than ever.’
Bidders joined from three continents including North America, Europe and Asia.
Christmas wines
As with previous years, lots were each split into different regions, with particular bidding highlights coming from Champagne and Burgundy. With Christmas just around the corner, bidders perhaps had an eye on what they could enjoy with turkey on the big day.
Lively and spirited bidding
A number of wines once again beat Christie’s pre-sale high estimates with particular highlights including:
- Three lots consisting of 60-bottle mixed cases of vintage, non-vintage and rosé Champagne from small growers to Grande Marques which sold for £1,100 and £1,200
- Three 48-bottle mixed cases of red Bordeaux from Médoc, St-Estèphe, St-Julien, Margaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol and St-Emilion, which sold for £800 each to a single buyer (high estimate: £600)
- Two lots consisting of 60-bottle mixed cases of white Burgundy from Chassagne and Puligny Montrachet, Meursault and Chablis which sold for £1,100 each (high estimate: £1000)
Commenting on the auction results, Charles Foley said, ‘Christie’s was delighted to auctioneer the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards lots in aid of charity. Spirited bidding from across the world saw 91 lots of medal-winning wines hammer for an impressive total. Many of the bidders went on to buy wines in the following auctions from three superb private collections and were delighted to support the chosen charities. They are always impressed by the quality and variety of the Decanter World Wine Awards offering. We are pleased that with all the vagaries of 2020, the wine industry has continued to thrive, innovate in meeting clients and enable producers to toast sales of their beautiful wines.’
Find out more about this year’s wines on auction here.
Charity partnerships
All funds from the annual Christie’s DWWA auction will be added to money raised by Decanter throughout the World Wine Awards this year and donated to WaterAid, The Drinks Trust, Change Please and Centrepoint.
Over the course of 2020, Decanter has donated over £100,000 to these four charities.
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