With the crunch of Autumn leaves underfoot, and slightly cooler nights comes our new season Live Streamed auction. It is easy to be excited when you see the calibre of wine in this sale, with some of the world’s greatest vineyards on offer from well cellared collections.
We start strongly with some exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot blends from these fine shores. Led ably by Waiheke with vintages of Destiny Bay, Te Whau, Stonyridge Larose, Te Motu and Passage Rock. These are well partnered with other Tamaki Makarau producers; The Antipodean, Providence, St Nesbit and Puriri Hills. Hawkes Bay then hits back with some great names of its own; Craggy Range, Clearview, Villa Maria, Church Road Tom, Newton-Forrest and multiple vintages of Te Mata Coleraine. There are many original wooden cases (OWCs) and large format bottlings in this collection.
The Pinot Noir selection is equally desirable with Felton Road, Prophet’s Rock Cuvee aux Antipodes, Peregrine The Pinnacle, Martinborough Vineyards, Ata Rangi, Devotus, Escarpment, Rippon, Two Paddocks and Dry River. You will be spoilt for choice, and we are delighted to do so.
Our fastest growing category is New Zealand Syrah, and it is easy to see why when you look at the wines being produced in Hawkes Bay by Craggy Range Le Sol, Te Mata Bullnose, John Forrest and Scared Hill Deerstalker. Waiheke is also vying for the top spot for Syrah production and puts forward great examples from Frenchman’s Hill.
If it is a crisp New Zealand dry white you are craving look no further than the excellent chardonnays on offer from Felton Road and Prophets Rock Cuvee aux Antipodes.
Penfolds lead the charge for Australia with St Henri, Bin 28 and the rarely seen Bin 60A and Block 42 backed with multiple vintages of Grange including the 100 point 2008 vintage. These are rubbing shoulders with Rockford Basket Press, Jim Barry Armagh, Clarendon Hills Australis and, for the Chardonnay drinkers, the multi-state Penfolds Yattarna 2019. Plenty of full flavoured wines there!
Other New World countries are always worth a look and, with Catena Zapata from Argentina and an older vintage of Klein Contantia’s Vin de Constance from South Africa, there should be plenty of interest.
We again have some fabulous Rieslings on offer with superstar Egon Muller. I love German Riesling and it doesn’t get better than Egon Muller.
Auction markets around the world are seeing great growth in Italian wines and it is easy to see why when you can get your hands on the likes of Wine Spectator Wine of the Year for 2023 the Agriano Brunello di Montalcino 2018 as well as Ornellaia, Masetto, Antinori Tignanello, multiple vintages of Sassicaia, all from Tuscany, and Moccagatta from Piedmont.
Champagne is Mrs Wine Auction Rooms favourite tipple and the highlight for her is the 2008 Dom Perignon Chef de Cave Legacy Edition celebrating former winemaker Richard Geoffroy’s 28 years at Dom Perignon. This is accompanied by 1995 Dom Perignon, Bollinger Grand Annee 1983 and 1995 as well as the rarely seen Bollinger Coteaux Champenois La Cote Aux Enfants; a still Pinot Noir.
Didier Dagueneau’s Silex needs no introduction, but you better be quick if you want to get your hands on one of the last bottles we have on offer. The mighty Loire also offers Pascal Cotat from Sancerre.
With no less than seven 100-point wines in the Rhone section, we are scratching our head to remember when such excellence has been so readily available? Whether it is Northern or Southern Rhone there are wines judged to be at the top of their game. Guigal Lalas from Cote Rotie, Chapoutier Hermitage or Pegau and Beaucastel from Chateauneuf du Pape all proudly show off their perfect wines.
The rise of Burgundy throughout the world of recent times has been phenomenal but let’s be honest who doesn’t want to drink the pinots of Grivot, Mongeard-Mugneret, Dujac, Francois Lamarche or Bruno Cavelier? If it is white Burgundy you are after check out the William Fevre, Droin and Vincent Dauvissat all top of their game in Chablis. Looking further south in the Cote de Beaune and beyond, check out the Dujac’s Puligny, Blain Gagnard or the great value des Heritiers du Comte Lafon from the Maconnaise.
Sauternes are proving popular in our auctions of late and it is easy to see why with the wines we can secure. La Tour Blanche, Doisy Daene and d’Yquem are all front and centre.
Which brings us to Bordeaux. There is a strong line up of First Growths with Chateaux Mouton Rothschild, Latour and the 100point 2003 Lafite Rothschild. We have Super Seconds in abundance with Leoville Las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Cos d‘Estournel and Leoville Barton. Then there are the fabulous Fifths with Chateaux Lynch Bages and Pontet Canet with two 100 point wines rounding out the Left Bank. Pessac-Leognan is looking good with 100 point wines from Chateaux Mission Haut Brion and Haut Bailly backed up with Le Clarence de Haut Brion. The right Bank looks equally inviting with 100 point wines from Angelus and L’Eglise Client, followed up with the 99 pointers; Pavie and Lafleur.
These are some of our highlights and I’m sure yours will be very different. As always, it is an honour to be presenting these to our growing community of wine friends.
Buying wines from auction presents a great opportunity to attain mature wines or wines on their way to maturity and those rarely, if ever, found in retail. However, it is worth remembering that wine continues to age in the bottle and will eventually fade - for some wines this could be short term, for others longer term.
As with buying any second-hand goods there can be risk. This risk can be mitigated through reviewing widely available vintage reports and critic reviews and imposing realistic expectations. The reward however, of a fine wine at its absolute peak of maturity, offering its full range of primary, secondary and tertiary flavours should be significant enough for most to negate the occasional disappointment.
So, if the risk-reward scales are deemed favourable, we have a lovely selection of wines at various stages of maturity available in our current auction. Happy browsing and please bid responsibly.
All bids are binding.
