The first dedicated champagne auction is to be held at Sotheby’s Paris place later this month as part of a sell-off of one of the world’s most valuable wine cellars.
Champagne and wine sourced from the legendary cellar of billionaire businessman Pierre Chen will be auctioned in Paris and Beaune over two months and will continue with sales in New York and Hong Kong. The French auctions are the latest offering in the Epicurean’s Atlas series of five sales offering up 25,000 of Chen’s bottles with an estimated total of $50 million.
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The Ultimate Champagne auction on 20 June will feature around 1,500 bottles, including legendary vintages dating back to the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, which are seldom seen on the market. This offering from Chen’s cellar is particularly remarkable, given the limited availability of such high-calibre champagnes in the secondary market. The auction will feature a rich selection of legendary vintages, making it a treasure trove for champagne aficionados.
‘If anyone understands how fine champagnes are a fantastic vinous pairing with food, it is Pierre,’ George Lacey, head of Sotheby’s Wine, Asia said.
A second sale will be held at the exclusive Couvent des Cordeliers in Beaune on 2 July, featuring the finest Burgundy wines. Live in Vines will be the first sale of its kind in Burgundy, and will showcase top examples from esteemed producers such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaines Leroy and d’Auvenay, Coche-Dury, Leflaive, Dujac, Rousseau, and Ponsot. One of the highlights will be a special vertical of magnums of Faiveley Musigny, a prestigious wine bottled exclusively for Pierre Chen, spanning every vintage since his purchase of a parcel of the Grand Cru vineyard in the Côte de Nuits.
The two auctions will hope to emulate the success of The Epicurean’s Atlas two-day sale in Hong Kong in November which achieved a sale of $16.8 – the
highest totals ever achieved for a single wine sale.
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Champagne sales at auctions are at an all-time high. This boom is being put down in part to the changing perception of champagne, with collectors increasingly viewing it more as a wine to be paired with food, rather than just a celebratory aperitive.
The region has also benefited from a series of outstanding vintages this century – such as the 2002, 2008 and 2012 – as have champagnes with a much smaller production such as rosé and older vintages.
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‘So often relegated to the role of being popped at celebrations, champagne is gloriously complex and multi-faceted, with nuances and individual characteristics to match the finest Bordeaux and Burgundy,’ Lacey says.
‘The mosaic of house styles mixed with vintage identity offers such intellectual and sensual pleasures, it comes as no surprise that Pierre’s cellar is richly stocked with an incredible depth of the most iconic champagnes produced several decades ago.
‘It’s rare to see such wines, even in small volumes, at auction, let alone for them to make up an entire sale,’
