The Wine Collector
Practical wine collecting advice from Steve Bachmann, Vinfolio's CEO
Top 5 large format bottles in 2006 wine auctions
The January 2007 (23rd edition) of the Wine Price File is now compiled. Among statistics of interest are the top prices commanded by large format bottles in 2006 wine auctions. Not surprisingly, all are legendary wines:- 1947 Cheval Blanc, 3L, $135,125
- 1961 Latour, 4.5L, $135,125
- 1978 DRC - Romanee Conti, 6L, $124,425
- 1961 Petrus, 4.5L, $123,375
- 1865 Lafite-Rothschild, 3L, $111,625
Since 1995, a 3L of 1947 Cheval Blanc has only been sold 5 times at auction (twice in 2006). The high price was obtained at a Christies New York sale in March 2006 and it represented more than triple the price of the other 2006 sale and a 2005 sale.
The 4.5L of 1961 Latour appears at auction more frequently with 14 sales in the last 5 years. In 2002, a lucky bidder paid only $13,800 for the same wine and bottle size. Its value more than tripled by 2005 only to see a further tripling in the same March 2006 Christies sale.
The scarcity and price trends with the other three wines are similar.
Bottom line: The combination of both wine and bottle format scarcity, highly rated vintages, and the proven cellar worthiness of the best producers, mean prices are only going one direction: upwards.
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