Plush - Wines go under the hammer

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Premiere auction house Sotheby's will be holding its first wine auction in Asia come April 4.

Held in Hong Kong, the sale will offer 750 lots of more than 5,100 bottles, which are expected to chalk up proceeds of about $4 million.

The wine collection, which includes the rare Romanee Conti 1996 and the collector's item Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2000, comes from a single owner-collector from the United States.

The auction, which will be held from April 4 to 8 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, will also include South-east Asian and Chinese art, watches, jewellery and Ming furniture.

The chairman of Sotheby's Asia, Mrs Patti Wong, says: 'We have noticed a growing trend of Asian buyers in our wine sales and have been looking at offering wine in Asia for a long time. A good opportunity came last year when Hong Kong abolished its wine import duties.'

Asian wine collectors are on the rise. Last year, buyers from this region made up 35 per cent of Sotheby's worldwide wine sales value, up from 21 per cent in 2007.

And they go for premium lots too. Six out of the top 10 wine lots sold worldwide at Sotheby's last year were snapped up by Asians.

At the upcoming auction in Hong Kong, the Romanee Conti 1996 is estimated to go for $50,000 to $70,000, while the La Tache 1971 and 1985 are estimated to fetch $43,000 to $63,000 each. These bottles come in methuselah bottles, about 6 litres each, which is very rare.

The wine auction will be hosted by Ms Serena Sutcliffe, who heads the Sotheby's International Wine Department.

Some of her top picks for the auction include the 12 bottles of Chateau Montrose 2003, which are expected to go for $1,600 to $2,170, and the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2000 with its unique gold enamel jeroboam bottle, which is estimated to fetch $5,000 to $7,000.

The Sotheby's wine auction has a reputation for offering premium bottles under its hammer.

In 2007, it established a world record for a bottle of wine sold at an auction when a Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945 Jeroboam sold for $475,000 at Sotheby's New York.

But the auctioneers are mindful of the economic climate and are watching its impact on the auction market closely.

Mrs Wong says this is the first sale in Hong Kong since the financial fallout began last year.

'What we have done is to curate ourselves very carefully. We stay mindful of what people are looking for and manage sellers' expectations,' she says, adding that quality is the focal point at this time.

'We know that people are more prudent in their spending and will go for things that are really rare and hard to come by. Such items are sought-for in good times and bad.'

Auction highlights