Acker announced in September that it had sold a six-litre bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s (DRC) ‘Romanée-Conti’ 2002 at a Hong Kong auction for nearly HK$3.1m (US$398,400).
However, it’s understood that the sale of the bottle was subsequently cancelled.
Doubts about the wine’s authenticity have been raised by lawyer and wine fraud expert Don Cornwell on the Wine Beserkers website.
He also expressed concerns about another wine, a six-litre bottle of DRC Romanée-Conti 2000, which was originally scheduled to be included in an Acker auction earlier this month.
When approached for comment, Acker said it had removed the Romanée-Conti 2000 wine from its sale list before the auction.
In an emailed statement to Decanter, Acker said, ‘The six-litre [bottle] of 2000 DRC Romanée-Conti was printed in the auction catalogue, but once our final inspection came through, we withdrew the lot prior to the auction.’
On the doubts raised about the Romanée-Conti 2002, Acker added, ‘Regarding the six-litre [bottle] of 2002 DRC Romanée-Conti recently sold in a prior auction, the sale had already been rescinded.’
Acker also said, ‘We have a longstanding practice that if we find a bottle to be inauthentic, we will refund the buyer. Acker is very confident in our authentication department and work with some of the best internal and external authenticators in the world.
‘Clearly, our clients are confident in our processes, as we will have a record shattering $170m in auction sales this year, representing 40% of the global auction market. We will continue to do our best to detect and prevent the bad actors in the fine and rare wine market.’
Burgundy’s famous DRC produces some of the most exclusive and sought-after fine wines in the world, and the estate’s labels have been a target for counterfeiters, as well as thieves.
