Auctions of Older Wines

[southern girl]

I have been following the "Drinking Wines That Are Too Old" thread with interest...It was mentioned that buying at auction was a good way to collect older wines. I would appreciate some direction from those members who are familiar with doing so. Which auction houses do you suggest? I presume looking at past auction results is a good way to gauge how much one should bid. Is there a way to limit the chance if getting a "bad" case. I seem to remember one of the auction houses (I think Sotheby's) sends someone out to check how and where the wines were cellared. Anything else members with experience would care to share would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Southern Girl - It's not true. The auction houses do not send people to check the wine on site. They do not check the wines until they arrive in their warehouse and they usually do not verify how the seller stored them. There are a number of ways that auction houses try to verify how wine was stored. The most typical way is to check the label. If the label is stained in any way, odds are that the wine was kept in a warm place and heat forced some wine to seep through the cork and onto the label. Whether the cork is slightly protruding or has sunk into the neck of the bottle is another sign that the wine was improperly stored. But the most helpful piece of information is how full the bottle is.

The small bit of air in each bottle of wine between the cork and the actual wine is called the ullage. Over time because corks are pourous, the wine in the bottle evaporates. The purpose of storing wine at a certain temprature (55-57F and 70% humidity) is to slow down the evaporation process while still allowing the wine to age properly. So each bottle of wine that comes into an auction houses warehouse gets measured and they mark the catalog accordingly. So for example, if someone happened to be born in 1961 and they were interested in buying a wine from that vintage, they might see an entry that says the wine is into the neck of the bottle. Or another entry might say top shoulder meaning there was enough evaporation so that the wine doesn't protrude into the neck of the bottle anymore. At the front of each auction catalog there is a diagram showing the different types of wine bottles and what the markings are.

Problem is, it isn't an exact science. You can buy wine at auction that the catalog marks as perfect and it can be vinegar when you get it home. Then there is wine that comes from British country homes which are notorious for having lots of evaporation because of low humidity. But the cellars are ice cold and the wines age slowly. I've bought bottles of wine out of cellars like that which look absolutely horrible but the wines are amazing. So at best it's a hit or miss proposition. You just have to imagine that there is a bad bottle factor built into buying older wines that invreases your per bottle price by about 20%.

As for auctions, here are a few websites. Unfortunately aside from Acker Merrall whose auction is this weekend, and Winebid.cm who run auction every other Thursday until the Sunday 10 days later, you missed the 2002 auctions and have to wait until 2003.

Christie's

Sotheby's

Acker Merrall

Winebid.com

[AdamLawrence]

For those in the UK - or who don't mind having stuff shipped from Britain - Straker Chadwick auctioneers in Abergavenny hold regular wine sales, often with interesting older bottles that are less obviously big ticket than Christies etc.

Straker Chadwick

About a week before each sale, the lots get listed on their site.

Adam

[klinger75]

southern girl FYI, The chicago wine company is hosting their final auction this thursday and friday 12/19-12/20. Reliable company who imposes no buyers premium. You can somtimes find some good deals.

[southern girl]

Thanks everyone for helping me begin to understand wine auctions through auction houses...Look for an update in 2003---when hopefully I will feel confident enough to give one a shot.

[MartyL]

Here are another couple of internet auction sites that I have had good experiences with:

http://www.magnumwines.com

and

http://www.brentwoodwines.com

Edited December 19, 2002 by MartyL (log)