Top US auction house bets on Bordeaux rebound

Chicago’s Hart Davis Hart will hold its first Bordeaux-only auction at the end of this month, in what could prove a key test for signs of improved buyer confidence in 2014.

Hart Davis Hart (HDH) said it expected to sell up to $5.5m of top Bordeaux wines from around 100 chateaux at the auction, to be held over 31 October and 1 November.

It will include ex-cellar wines from Cheval Blanc, Montrose and Pichon Lalande, as well as 33 lots of Petrus spanning 21 vintages. Altogether, 44 vintages will be represented, including 97 lots of the 1982 vintage and 337 lots of 2009.

The move comes in spite of Burgundy overtaking Bordeaux as HDH’s biggest selling region in the first half of 2014. All 10 of HDH’s highest-priced lots during that period were Burgundy wines, epitomising a trend that has transcended regions and arguably culminated with Sotheby’s’ record-breaking, 114-bottle lot of DRC Romanee-Conti sold in Hong Kong last week for US$1.6m.

See full article here (decanter.com)