The Christie's Finest and Rarest Wines Auction in Hong Kong on the 4th and 5th of March uncorked another round of keen bidding from Asian buyers. The two-day sale, which took place in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, attracted just over six million pounds and saw 677 lots go under the hammer. Top achievers included Tache 1961 (£ 56,876; 6x150cl), Romanee Conti 1929 (£ 47,397; 3x75cl) and the 1982 vintages of Petrus (£51,188; 12x75cl) and Lafite (£42,657; 12x75cl). Compared to Liv-ex trade prices (represented by the Liv-ex Mid Price), Hong Kong buyers paid an average of 12 per cent above market for the First Growths. As we highlighted in a recent blog post, however, removing the buyer's premium shows sellers' less impressive returns. Based on a buyer's premium of 20 per cent (though this can be higher) hammer prices were an average of seven per cent lower than the Liv-ex Mid Price.
The table below shows the First Growths that fetched the highest prices at auction. As you can see, many of the most expensive wines achieved less than the Liv-ex Mid Price.
