02 Apr March 2026 Post-Auction and Market Report

“It was great to see such strong interest in high-end Burgundy again in March. With some wines rarely seen on the secondary market here in New Zealand it is a privilege to present them to our amazing community,” Reece Warren, Managing Director and Auctioneer, Wine Auction Room

In March 2026 The Wine Auction Room hosted four online wine auctions:

Late Summer Fine & Rare Wine Auction (25 February – 2 March)-
Single Vendor: Burgundy & Beyond Wine Auction Part 2 (11 March – 16 March)
End of Financial Year Wine Clearance Auction (25 March – 30 March)

These closed on a total of 601 bottles across 384 lots, in keeping with the trends we saw in late 2025 and early 2026 we are continuing to see strong demand for premium wines on the secondary market in New Zealand with 26 bottles selling for over $1000.

We are also seeing an increase in registrations from buyers in international markets who see value in buying at auction in a smaller market like New Zealand. We are actively pursuing these buyers especially in markets like Hong Kong which have fewer barriers to trade (i.e. Australia’s dreaded 29% WET Tax). 

Top Sellers
Our top five sales for March 2026 were:
2004 Domaine de la Romanee Conti La Tache Grand Cru ($8006.25)
2016 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru ($4003.12)
2017 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru ($3660)
2008 Domaine Vicomte Liger-Belair Echezeaux Grand Cru ($3583.75)
2003 Chateau Latour Magnum ($2937.50)

New Zealand
In March New Zealand wines represented about ⅓ of all sales, a little bit lower than usual in part due to our single vendor Burgundy auction.

Our top New Zealand sale was a 6l of 2016 Coopers Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon which sold for $470, taking large format bottles out of the equation our top sale for a 750ml bottle of New Zealand wine was a bottle of 2015 Kusuda Pinot Noir which sold for $340.75. We also saw strong results for Destiny Bay Mystae and magnums from producers like Rippon, Quartz Reef, Providence of Matakana and Black Barn. 

Wines to watch:
Martinborough wines performed extremely strongly in March with two wines each from Ata Rangi (‘87 Celebre and ‘95 Pinot Noir), two wines from Kusuda (‘15 and ‘18 Pinot Noir) and wines from Craggy Range and Dry River all selling above our high estimates. There was a significant amount of interest in the 1987 Ata Rangi Celebre which sold for $141, 135% above our high estimates and almost 3 times the current vintage RRP.

Australia
Australia represented about 5% of our total sales volume and unusually for a country that is best known for is powerful reds, had three lots featuring classic Chardonnays take the three top spots with two bottles of 2017 Leuwin A Chardonnay selling for $176.25 each followed by two lots of two bottles each of 2018 Penfolds Bin 144 Chardonnay which sold at $152.75 a bottle. Shiraz from Penfolds (St Henri and Bin 128) and d’Arenberg achieved good results, as did Moss Wood Semillon. 

Spain & Italy
Together these represented around 8% of sales which is down slightly on the previous few months and despite a smaller offering there was strong support for these categories with 70% of sales being $100 or more. Our current, April Live auction makes up for this in spades however with over 100 lots featuring the classic wines of Tuscany, Piedmont and Sicily. March saw strong results for ‘99 Sassicaia and ‘19 Ornellaia Bianco from Tuscany, ‘13 Bruno Rocca Curra Reserva Barbareso from Piedmont, ‘16 Tenuta Benanti Pietra Marina Bianco Superiore from Sicily and ‘04 Vega Sicilia Pintia from Toro in Spain.

France
With the second part of our Single Vendor Burgundy Auction falling in March, once again the classic wines of France made up around 45% of our sales (Burgundy made up about half of these sales). Of our top 10 sales from France, only the previously mentioned Magnum of the 100 Point Scoring ‘03 Latour was from outside of Burgundy with all of our top ten sales selling above $2800 a bottle. There was especially strong interest and bidding in three Premier Cru wines; 2012 Domaine Vicomte Liger-Belair Vosne Romanee Aux Reignot which sold at $2291.25 (27% above high estimate) and ‘08 and ‘09 Domaine J.F.Mugnier Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Marechale which both sold at $587.50 (17.5% above high estimate). Our fourth top sale overall, the 2008 Domaine Vicomte Liger-Belair Echezeaux Grand Cru, also sold above high estimate. 

Looking outside of Burgundy we also saw strong results for the legendary ‘01 vintage of Chateau Rieussec, multiple vintages of Mouton, ‘09 Haut Brion, ‘02 Lafite and moving away from Burgundy and Bordeaux, Jacques Selosse VO Blanc de Blanc Champagne and 07 Chateau de Beaucastel Hommage a Jacques Perrin Chateauneuf du Pape, another Robert Parker 100 Point wine.

Fortified Wines and Whisky
Both Vintage Port and whisky (both Scotch and American) performed well with our top sales being a 1986 bottling of Old Grand-Dad Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey which sold for $317.25 made before Jim Beam acquired National Distillers and a 1970 Tayor Fladgate which sold for $282. We also saw strong sales for a trio of ‘91 Vintage Ports (Warre’s, Niepoort, Calem).

Takeaways and Investment Advice
Overall the international market was relatively subdued in March, possibly due to uncertainty in global trade (read on if you are interested in this subject) with negligible gains in their three key indices:

When it comes to investing, Burgundy is having a moment but Bordeaux is still old faithful. While Burgundy wines dominated the international markets (as they did here in NZ) Bordeaux is more reliable. It has a broad base of market activity, with more regular trades and transparent pricing. Likewise Bordeaux investing is no longer just First Growths (plus wines like Lafleur, Le Pin and Petrus) as the quality and consistency of non-First Growth wines (i.e. Super Seconds, Garagistes and even some Petit Chateau) has increased exponentially as has their demand on the secondary market. Vinium’s March Market Report states this plainly, “In the last ten to twenty years, we have witnessed massive investment in some of these ‘second line’ estates and the results are bearing fruit (pun intended) and the quality gap between ‘firsts’ and ‘seconds’ has been closing.” with their resident MW, Matthew Henning saying that Montrose (as an example) “has been making 1st growth level wines since at least 2009”.

Unquestionably, the market is undergoing a ‘price reset’. With the release price of many in demand (and not so in demand) wines rising, many bottles are coming back to market at or below release pricing. In short, unless you are chasing a specific grail bottle there has never been a better time to buy wine on the secondary market. This is especially true for many domestic wines (especially Bordeaux Blends and Chardonnay). This differential is also likely to bring more institutional investors into this space.* That said, there is still a lot to say for buying wines you love directly from the producer as there is also significant upside to this: preferential pricing, access to cellar and limited release stock and of course, invitations to tastings, dinners and other events.

Want to know how events like the Iran conflict affect the global market for fine wine? We can highly recommend this article by LivEx (the company that tracks wine fine wine pricing) which while written pre-Iran, has a great breakdown of how these geopolitical and macroeconomic events play out on the secondary wine market. Vin-X has also published a report comparing the wine market to other international markets in the wake of the Iran War. 

* especially in established markets like the UK where wine is regularly traded in bond (i.e. without excise or GST/VAT/Sales Tax). 

Please note: all prices quoted include the Buyers Premium (ex-GST)