09 Oct September ’26 Post Auction and Markets Report
In September 2026 we hosted three online auctions:
Early Spring Rare & Fine Wine Online Auction (Weds 2 – Mon 7 Sept),
Hawkes Bay Wine Auction (Sat 12 Sept),
Spring Clean Online Wine Auction (Mon 16 – Weds 21 Sept), and
Our final Burgundy & Beyond Single Vendor Auction (Weds 23 – Mon 28 Sept).
We closed on 444 bottles across 330 lots with 30 sales of $1000 or more per bottle.
Our top five sales for August 2026 were:
1945 Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1er Cru Classe at $4700,
2010 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos-de-Beze Grand Cru at $4171.25,
2x 2010 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos-de-Beze Grand Cru at $4112.50 each,
2003 Chateau Latour 1er Cru Classe 1500ml at $2937.50, and
2014 Domaine JF Mugnier Les Amoureuses Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru at $2291.50
For the second year running we were also honoured to be able to both sponsor and offer online bidding in the Hawkes Bay Wine Auction which raised a record $454,182 for Cranford Hospice who provide vital end of life care to the people of Hawkes Bay. Thank you to everybody who supported the auction.
A packed room at the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction
New Zealand
In September 23% of our sales were for New Zealand wines with the very top sale being for two bottles of 2015 Destiny Bay Mystae which sold for $376 each. These were followed by a magnum of Neudorf Chardonnay and wines from Providence of Matakana, Trinity Hill, Pyramid Valley, Stonyridge and Craggy Range all selling for over $100.
As well as these we saw good returns to our vendors across the value spectrum with wines from Pegasus Bay, Villa Maria and Devouts selling above (in the case of a half bottle of 2016 Pegasus Bay Encore Noble Riesling which sold for $99.88, well above) our high estimated price. For those of you who are interested in how this breaks down in regards to returns, here is a little snippet from an infographic we published on social media at the start of the month on what returns look for a wines like this (note, the prices displayed do not include our buyers premium – the delta between the hammer price of $85 and our final sale price of $99.88).
Australia
In September Australian sales made up around 6% of our overall sales with top sales being two Penfolds bottlings; a bottle of 2004 Bin 60a which sold at $822.50 and a bottle of 1982 Grange which sold at $728.50. We also saw good sales for wines from Noon Winery, Hewitson and Cape Mentelle.
Italy
We saw a similar volume of Italian sales, and saw strong demand for a range of fine wines from around Italy including Super Tuscan Ornellaia (our top sales, with bottles of ‘03 and ‘05 selling at $1175), Querciabella Grand Reserva Chianti, Barolo from Gaja and Vajra and amber / orange wines from Gravner.
Spain
Spanish sales account for around 4% with our top sales being for undisputed Ribera del Duero First Growth Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Único (1995 vintage at $1057.70 and the 2013 vintage at $705) followed by high-end Rioja and Priorat wines from Remirez de Gaunza, Bodegas Contafor, Finca Allende and La Vinya del all performing well.
France
A whopping 57% of our sales were of wines from France (which is no surprise as we hosted a specialist Burgundy auction alongside two general auctions) with our top sale being the previously mentioned 1945 Lafite which was sold to a collector of historical bottles in Hong Kong.
We are really excited by the demand from within our community for Burgundy (both red and white) which happily transcended the price spectrum… We saw as much enthusiasm for sub-$100 reserve wines from the likes of Chandon de Brailles and Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet as we did for icon Chambolle Musigny from J.F. Mugnier and George Roumier. All in all Burgundy wines made up around 65% of our sales.
Some of the the wines featured in our final Burgundy & Beyond Single Vendor Auction
Bordeaux (including Sauternes) made up 22% of sales and as is the case with Burgundy, we delivered strong returns up and down the value spectrum with three bottles of the 100 Point ‘03 Lafite across two lots selling around the $1500 mark, over 25% higher than our highest estimates for the prized bottles. Likewise wines from Chateau d’Armailhac and Chateau Gloria performed extremely well, both selling above high estimates. In the case of the ‘18 Gloria (in part because we still have the EP offer) we estimate the full price of the wine was around $80, it sold with a hammer price of $140 which, minus fees, netted a 43% return for the vendor. Who says wine investing is just about $1000+ bottles?
When we look at our other sales from around France we had strong demand from our community of wine lovers for icon wines from the Northern Rhone (‘12 La Landonne & ‘20 Chapoutier Le Pavillion), Chateauneuf (‘13 Beaucastel Hommage), Alsace (‘16 Trimbach Clos St Hune), Champagne (‘14 Cristal).
International Markets News:
Michelin take on Bordeaux – In late September Michelin published their first Bordeaux classification, following up on their Burgundy classification which was published in July; and while the Burgundy list was controversial the Bordeaux list is even more so. Essentially Michelin ‘Grapes’ are awarded like stars with 3 stars being the very top, and even inclusion on the ‘Michelin Selection’ list being notable (here is a link to the Michelin press release which has all the listings). The TL;DR is that Michelin awarded three grapes to nine château, two grapes to 16 château, one grape to 37 château and included a further 21 château in their ‘Michelin Selection’. Some of the notable (and controversial) snubs include Mouton and Margaux only receiving two Grapes (under producers like Léoville-Las-Cases, Montrose and Figac), Le Pin only receiving one Grape and First Growth Latour being left off the list entirely. Read more here.
Shorting the dollar by drinking free First Growth Bordeaux – We know that is a pretty evocative headline, but it is the title of a recent substack post by iconic investor Michael Burry (of The Big Short fame,) who makes a case that wine is among the most secure investments in the current (and future markets). It is unusual for investors of this calibre (and influence) to comment on the wine market itself, Vinum have a good break down of his arguments in their recent markets report (sadly the post itself is behind a paywall).
International Market Optimism Continues – Vinum is also reporting that almost all Liv-Ex indices are up when it comes to Month-on-Month, Year to Date and 12 Month indices (California and Rhone were ever-so-slightly down month-on-month) leading to selective optimism noting that high performers include ‘08 and Rosé Champagne (especially Salon and Cristal), DRC, Rousseau and Giacomo Conterno Barolo. These sentiments are echoed by the q3 WineCap report (as reported by Drinks Business) which states that buyers are rewarding “scarcity, quality and relative value over sentiment”.
Looking ahead…
We had our annual planning day this week and have an exciting auction calendar planned for 2027 (we only have 8 more auctions left this year). We also want to thank you all for a very successful October Live auction which saw just over 13% of sales above high estimate (which will mean some happy vendors). There was strong community demand for wines from all over the wine world: NZ (Bordeaux Blends, Pinot, Chardonnay and Riesling), Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo, Port, Aussie Cabernet (and Cab Shiraz) and German Riesling PLUS we also saw some strong sales of Grower Champagne with high estimates (this is still a niche category here in NZ however international demand, especially from Asia, has really driven a price spike in these wines)… More on these next month, however it is never a bad time to have a dig around the cellar to see what you might have to sell.
Finally, yesterday especially was a cracker of a spring day with temperature almost in the 20s. All forecasts suggest an extremely hot, el nino summer so if you have your collection stored in a passive wine cellar it may be time to move to The Wine Storage Room as we currently have a little bit of space (including some of our medium sized Magnums which store around 50 dozen Bordeaux bottles and are usually allocated). The Wine Storage Room has been built from the ground up; by wine lovers, for wine lovers. We offer 24-7 access close to downtown Auckland and you don’t need to lug heavy boxes up ladders to access your wine. There are also some nice perks to being a member including some community events planned for 2027, free corkage at some fantastic restaurants and occasional members-only offers.
