Sotheby's to Auction Bordeaux Winebank's "2000" Collection
Sotheby's will offer an important selection of the 2000 vintage from Bordeaux Winebank, the company set up by Norwegian businessman Henning Thoresen that specializes in offering Bordeaux with the "Five Star Provenance" system. The sale celebrates the 10th anniversary of the great 2000 vintage.
A selection from the Bordeaux Winebank collection will make up a substantial part of the Finest and Rarest Wines sale on November 13th in New York with 128 lots expected to sell for between $890,500 to $1.3 million in total (not including the buyer's premium).
The auction, which will feature such wines as Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Margaux, is expected to be one of the highest-value various-owner wine sales ever held at Sotheby's New York. The auction will take place at Sotheby's location at 1334 York Avenue at East 72nd Street in Manhattan. Sotheby's Jamie Ritchie, Head of Wine, North America (and a Luxist Awards Expert Panelist), will serve as the lead auctioneer tomorrow in New York (see photo above).
The second part of the Bordeaux Winebank 2000 collection will be sold in Hong Kong at the Sotheby's Finest and Rarest Wine auction on January 23, 2011 at the Mandarin Oriental. The Hong Kong sale will feature 128 lots which are expected to sell for HK$8.4 million to HK$12.6 million/US$1.1 million to US$1.6 million (not including the buyer's premium).
"The expectation, not to mention the excitement, attached to this first year of the new century was always in the stratosphere and, miraculously, 2000 turned out to be a fabulous Bordeaux vintage," says Serena Sutcliffe MW, Worldwide Head of Wine at Sotheby's. "Bordeaux 2000 is a sumptuous, yet classic, year combining everything that this noble region of France represents. I returned from the en primeur tastings of this vintage feeling totally exhilarated and I still feel this way every time I pull the cork of a 2000."
The impressive collection that Bordeaux Winebank has built featuring top classified Bordeaux is illustrated by the excellent wines produced in 2000 that are featured in the Sotheby's auction.
Bordeaux Winebank is the brainchild of Norwegian businessman Henning Thoresen, who spent two decades fine tuning his idea of what constitutes ideal provenance, resulting in the introduction of Bordeaux Winebank's "Five Star Provenance" system. This patented process ensures quality and authenticity and also that all the wines are in perfect condition.
All the Bordeaux Winebank wines in the Sotheby's sale are sold within this system, which means they are in their original wood cases, have documented "ex château" provenance, and have always been kept in professional storage in Bordeaux, until being shipped to New York or Hong Kong.
Bordeaux Winebank's wines come with supporting documentation showing the château as the primary or secondary source, a secondary source being a major négociant who purchased the wines through an allocation directly from the château. In addition, all cases sold by Bordeaux Winebank have their own individual certificate of provenance, with each certificate being linked to its case via their Advanced Track and Trace database. Four seals are applied to each case, which is scanned just before the case leaves the warehouse. This then registers the case in the database and creates a corresponding seal, which is then applied to the certificate of provenance. Sotheby's Wine will forward each certificate it receives from Bordeaux Winebank to the purchaser upon delivery.
Bordeaux Winebank is a subsidiary of BWB Group, which includes all of Henning Thoresen's wine ventures in Luxembourg, Norway, France, Singapore and Hong Kong, with an estimated inventory under management of $110 million.
"These wines make you feel lucky to be alive," says Sutcliffe. "It is therefore enormously exciting to be able to offer such a tremendous selection of this vintage with the reassurance of perfect provenance and storage that comes with wine from the Bordeaux Winebank Collection."
Excellent Bordeaux wines, including those from Chateau Margaux, are also available for purchase by the bottle (some by the case), from the Sotheby's retail wine shop, although they are not Bordeaux Winebank wines.
The New York sale will offer 128 cases with all First Growths well represented, while Part II of the Bordeaux Winebank collection in Hong Kong will also be made up of 128 cases.
Among the highlights are:
5 cases 2000 Château Lafite Rothschild Est. HK$117,000 to HK$195,000/US$15,000 to $US25,000
10 cases 2000 Château Latour Est. HK$62,400 to HK$93,600/US$8,000 to $US12,000
10 cases 2000 Château Mouton Rothschild Est. HK$62,400 to HK$93,600/US$8,000 to US$12,000
10 cases 2000 Château Margaux Est. HK$62,400 to HK$93,600/US$8,000 to US$12,000
10 cases 2000 Château Haut Brion Est. HK$46,800 to HK$70,200/US$6,000 to US$9,000
3 cases 2000 Château Pétrus Est. HK$234,000 to HK$390,000/US$30,000 to US$50,000
5 cases 2000 Château Ausone Est. HK$156,000 to HK$234,000/US$20,000 to US$30,000
10 cases 2000 Château Cheval Blanc Est. HK$78,000 to HK$117,000/US$10,000 to US$15,000
* Pre-sale estimates do not include buyer's premium
1. All wines must be sold exclusively in original wooden case (OWC).
2. All wines must have documented "ex château" provenance.
3. All cases must remain in professional storage in Bordeaux since bottling.
4. Professional storage facilities must be temperature and humidity controlled and monitored 24/7.
5. Annual certification of procedures by qualified auditor.
