Cheval Blanc 1947 tops London sale
A magnum of 1947 Cheval Blanc sold for £54,450 at a recent Sotheby’s sale in London, which featured the cellar of well-known collector Graham Lyons.
Other highlights included: a 12-bottle case of Domaine Armand Rousseau's 1990 Chambertin, which sold for £48,400; six bottles of 1996 Chambertin from Domaine Leroy, which went for £36,300; and a dozen bottles of Leroy’s 1996 Clos de la Roche, which was sold for £33,880.
The auction also saw strong bidding for Right Bank claret, with cases of six magnums of 1982 Petrus going for £45,980 each, and six bottles of the 2000 selling for £22,990.
Sotheby’s four-cellar New York auction makes $3.6m
Sotheby’s latest New York wine auction, which featured four cellars from respected collectors, made a total US$3.6 million last weekend.
Tops lots included six bottles of 1943 La Tache from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, which sold for $93,000 – high above its pre-sale high estimate of $42,000 – as well as offerings from Armand Rousseau, Chave, Haut Brion, Montrose and Guigal, all of which achieved higher-than-expected prices.
Connor Kriegel, head of auction sales for Sotheby’s Wine in New York, commented: “Over the weekend, we were delighted to present at auction ‘4 Fabulous Cellars’, a special offering comprised of impressive selections from four individual collections that are well known to Sotheby’s Wine for their distinguished palates and impeccable sourcing.”
He added that “bidders around the globe showed their great appreciation” for the “meticulously stored” legendary Burgundy.
Madison Fine Wine announces fine and rare wine auction in Hong Kong
Madison Fine Wine has announced that its forthcoming fine and rare wine auction in Hong Kong will take place on 2nd November at the Grand Hyatt. Comprising 870 lots, the sale is expected to make between HK$18 million and HK$24.8 million.
Highlights include a selection of Le Petit Cheval, Chateau Cheval Blanc's second wine, with 1991, 1992 and 1993 vintages estimated to sell for between $150,000 and $206,000, plus ex-chateau 2000 Chateau Mouton Rothschild in 5 litre format, estimated to go for between $120,000 and $160,000). Elsewhere, an assorted case of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti’s 2010 wines is expected to fetch between $260,000 and $350,000.
Aside from French names, buyers can expect top offerings from Tuscany, California, Portugal, Germany and Australia.
Billecart releases limited edition magnums of cuvee ‘Brut Sous Bois’
Champagne house Billecart-Salmon has released a limited number of magnums of its wood-aged cuvee ‘Brut Sous Bois’. The wine is vinified in old oak barrels before being consigned to secondary fermentation. Topping off the wine’s woody theme is its label, made from cherry wood sourced from sustainable forests.
Just 500 magnums have been released, priced at £180 each.
Pringles falls foul of Prosecco’s protected name legislation
Snack brand Pringles found itself in hot water last week after Italian police seized packets of its ‘Prosecco and pink peppercorn’ flavoured crisps from shop shelves in the Veneto region, claiming misuse of the word Prosecco, which is protected under Italian and EU law.
Following the incident, Italy’s agriculture minister Teresa Bellanova said: “We cannot allow identity theft.” Meanwhile, president of Veneto Luca Zaia posted on his Facebook page: “We can no longer tolerate that a protected name be used without authorisation.”
However, a spokesperson for Pringles said that the limited edition flavour had been produced in restricted batches ahead of Christmas 2018, that at the time all DOC guidelines and European regulations were followed, and that it has no plans to produce the crisps again in the future.
It’s believed that the seized packets had been purchased from a Dutch company, although officials have not named the supermarket chain responsible for putting them on its shelves.
