Our End-of-Year Live auction followed by its Buy Now sale wrapped up the year last Tuesday. Thanks to our lovely wine community, our vendors and buyers for your long-time support.

Before we dive into the auction sale report, let’s take a look at the international wine market. Globally, key market indices remained flat, primarily due to ongoing cautious investor sentiment and reduced demand from Asia. The Bordeaux market has seen a notable drop in prices, with some of the most prestigious producers experiencing the biggest decline in the last quarter of 2023. However, despite these headwinds, the outlook for 2024 holds promise for investors, with emerging opportunities on the horizon. The stabilisation in pricing towards the end of the quarter also provides an enticing opportunity for wine investors.

This is reflected accordingly in local market. In our last live auction, overall wining bids set around mid estimate with few soared above high estimate. 2000 Chateau Mouton Rothschild took the highest hammer win at $1880, followed by 2003 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional and Canadian Club Chronicles 41 Year Old Whisky (45%ABV) at $1175.

At the second tier, Rhone, Burgundy and Bordeaux played equal parts with 2010 E. Guigal La Mouline Cote Rotie selling for $1034, while 2009 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin and 2008 Chateau Mouton Rothschild followed at $940.

Overall Bordeaux still delivered the highest total winning value in general proving its trustworthy stability in long-term investment. 1983 Chateau Latour sold for $893, 2008 Chateau Haut-Brion followed at $869.50 and 2003 Chateau Pavie sold for $611 while 1995 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande sold for $434.75.

OWC performed steadily as always, both 6-bottle lot of OWC 2014 Stonyridge Vineyard Larose, and OWC 2014 Te Mata Estate Coleraine sold for $846 and 6-bottle lot of OWC 2007 Chateau Gazin sold for $634.50.

Other highlights include, 6-bottle lot of 2001 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia selling for $2467.50, NV Jacques Selosse Initial Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc scoring $963.50, 1992 Dom Perignon Rose Vintage Brut selling for $705 and 2016 Bell Hill Pinot Noir reached $258.50.

All prices include Buyers Premium but exclude GST.

Our sincere thanks again to everyone who participated in this Live auction either in saleroom physically or via online and phone bids. Please feel free to give us feedback if there’s anything we could do to make it an even better experience for you.

We are often asked what wines we enjoy… we simply point to The Wine Retail Room.  Whilst our range is small, it is stuffed with wines with a story to tell.  Our retail store continues to be available for Christmas stocking fillers – be sure to place your orders before December 15if you’re out of town as we anticipate courier networks will be jammed. Local pickups will be available until Wednesday 20 December. wineretailroom.co.nz