Buying wine at auction.

[porkpa]

When buying wine at auction, is there a way to insure confidence that the wine you are bidding on has been stored under reasonably good conditions? I know that you should be reasonably safe when buying out of a large dispersal or semi dispersal from a well know collector or when occasionally the winery itself is the entity offering the wine. I guess those wines often sell at a premium. They probably should since a lot of the risk factor has been removed.

What about the small lots? What should my strategy be?

Porkpa

[marcus]

In general, buying at auction is very risky, and you should anticipate that at least 25% of the bottles will be less than perfect. This is really the dirty secret of wine auctions. You need to factor this into your bids. If you get a really bad lot, the auction house will take it back, but otherwise you are stuck. I have even seen bad bottles in lots that I've bought from famous collections, and I mean oxidized, not corked, the latter being unavoidable and just needs to be considered an act of god. I have bought many lots from both Sotheby's and Christie's and see no difference in quality. To minimize your exposure slightly, I would advise not buying mixed lots, lots with 11 bottles (fewer is ok), and lots from the end of the sale in sections characterized as being from various owners. This usually means retailers, and most retail wine shops do not have proper storage facilities.