Asian wine auction uncorks $8.2 mln in sales
Sat May 31, 2008 9:13am EDT
By James Pomfret, with editing by Elizabeth Piper.

Picture: Italian Cecilia Piacitelly is seen after successfully buying a case of 6 magnums of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, vintage 1945 at a fine wine auction in a hotel in Hong Kong on May 31, 2008. Piacitelly and her unnamed French husband bought the case for a total of 1.21 million HKD (155,000 USD). The couple also purchased a case of 12 bottles of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, vintage 1945 for a price of 1.355 million HKD (174,000 USD).

Hong Kong: America’s leading wine auction house sold $8.2 million of fine vintages in Hong Kong on Saturday in Asia’s largest such sale, underscoring the city’s potential as a regional wine hub.

Acker Merrall & Condit’s inaugural auction of fine and rare wines in Hong Kong drew hundreds of collectors from Hong Kong, China, Asia and the West.

The mood was convivial and bidding brisk during the day-long session which netted HK$64 million ($8.2 million) in sales with 92 percent of the 922 lots sold, as well as smashing at least five world auction records for some of the world’s finest wines.

The day’s highlight was a 12-bottle case of 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, often considered the world’s most expensive wine. It was sold for HK$1.89 million ($242,000) including the buyer’s premium to a Singaporean buyer. The price was a world record for any case of Romanee-Conti of any vintage ever sold.

Three magnums of Dom Perignon champagne of ‘66, ‘73 and ‘76 vintages made $93,000, the highest price ever paid for any champagne. A case of Chateau Le Pin 1982 fetched HK$823,000 ($105,500) — a world record for that vintage, while a case of 1945 Chateau Mouton Rothschild sold for $155,000.

The ‘45 Mouton Rothschild is considered one of the Chateau’s greatest vintages and described as “a Churchill of a wine” with a “V” sign on its label to mark the Allied victory in World War Two.

“It’s a very special piece of history,” said Cecilia Piacitelli, the buyer of the 63-year-old wine.

The auction comes months after Hong Kong decided to abolish its 40 percent wine duty in February to try to develop into an Asian wine hub along the lines of London and New York.

“The tax cut is great, I think the rest of the world needs to follow Hong Kong’s lead, maybe China will be next, Russia (or) Indonesia,” said John Kapon, Acker’s president.

“It’d be great to see other countries follow the lead and realize hey, good wine is part of good life and it just doesn’t make sense to tax it so high,” added Kapon who said China, Russia and South Korea’s wine taxes hovered close to 50 percent.

But some top wine collectors who frequent European and U.S. wine auctions, said the prices in Hong Kong were high.

“I tried to find some bargains but it was difficult today,” said George Tong, a respected Hong Kong wine connoisseur.

Over the years, a small clique of affluent so called “super-collectors” in Hong Kong has established a reputation for seemingly limitless spending on some of the best vintages coming onto the market each year, outbidding other global connoisseurs.

Bonhams hosted a recent $1.5 million wine auction in Hong Kong, the first in the city in over a decade and the first since the wine duties were abolished. Global auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s are reported to be considering sales of their own.

Acker will hold a second Hong Kong wine auction in November.

Source & Credits: Reuters (US).

亞洲葡萄酒拍賣uncorks達82萬人的銷售
星期六2008年5月31日美國東部時間上午09時13分
由詹姆斯鯧魚，與編輯，由黃錢其濂派珀。

香港: 美國領先的葡萄酒拍賣行售出8 20萬美元的罰款年份在香港的週六在亞洲最大的該等出售，突顯城市的潛力，作為一個地區的葡萄酒樞紐的地位。

acker merrall ＆康迪特的就職拍賣的罰款和難得的葡萄酒在香港提請數以百計的收藏家來自香港，中國，亞洲和西方。

情緒是convivial和投標活躍，在長達一天的會議，其中被捕的港幣6400萬美元（ 820萬美元）的銷售額與92 ％的922幅出售，以及粉碎了至少5名世界拍賣紀錄，世界上一些最優秀的葡萄酒。

當天的突出是一個12瓶案件1990領域內德羅曼尼‧康帝- 』 ，往往被視為世界上最昂貴的葡萄酒。這是賣出港幣一八九零零零零美元（二十四點二〇 〇萬美元） ，包括買方的保費，以一名新加坡買家。價格是一個世界紀錄，任何案件康帝- 』的任何老式以往任何時候都出售。

三magnums的DOM的perignon香檳的’66 ， ‘73和’76年份作出九萬三美元，最高價格以往任何時候都支付任何香檳。一箱子酒莊樂銷1982牽強港元八十二萬三美元（一十點五五零萬美元） -的世界紀錄為經典，而案件1 945酒莊木桐羅富齊賣出一五五〇 〇 〇美元。

該’45木桐羅富齊被認為是其中的酒莊最大的年份，並形容為“一丘吉爾一酒”與“ V ”字標誌就其標籤標誌，盟軍的勝利，在世界戰爭2 。

“這是一個非常特殊的一塊歷史，說： ”塞西莉亞皮亞奇泰利，買方今年63歲的葡萄酒。

拍賣會來個月後，香港決定取消其40 ％的酒稅在2月至試圖發展成為亞洲葡萄酒樞紐的地位大致相同的倫敦和紐約。

“減稅是偉大，我認為世界其餘地區的需要，按照香港的領先優勢，也許中國會在明年，俄羅斯（或）印度尼西亞，說： ”約翰卡蓬， acker的主席。

“它要大，看看其他國家的跟進，率先實現嘿，好葡萄酒是的一部分，美好的人生幸福，它只是沒有意義稅那麼高，說： ”誰卡蓬說，中國，俄羅斯和韓國的葡萄酒稅收徘徊在接近50 ％ 。

但一些高級葡萄酒收藏家誰頻繁，歐洲和美國的葡萄酒拍賣，說香港的價格很高。

“我試圖找到一些討價還價的，但它很難表示： ”今天，喬治塘，尊重香港的葡萄酒鑑賞家。

多年來，一個小集團的富裕，所謂的“超級收藏家”在香港已建立了良好的信譽似乎是無限的開支，一些最好的年份未來的市場上，每年outbidding其他全球鑑賞家。

邦漢姆主辦了一個最近的150萬美元的葡萄酒拍賣會在香港，首次在該城市在10年以上，並以來的第一次葡萄酒的職責，均被取消。全球克里斯蒂拍賣行和蘇富比拍賣行的報導，考慮銷售自己。

Acker 將舉行第二次香港葡萄酒拍賣會在十一月。