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 Bordeaux blends from these fine shores. Led ably by Waiheke with vintages of Destiny Bay, Te Whau, Stonyridge Larose, Te Motu and Goldwater. These are well partnered with another Tamaki Makarau producer; the wonderful Puriri Hills. Hawkes Bay then hits back with some great names of its own; Craggy Range, Villa Maria, Church Road Tom, Brookfields and multiple vintages of Te Mata Coleraine. Also from the Bay we have older vintages of McWilliams Cabernet from the 1970’s and 80’s. There are many original wooden cases (OWCs) and large format bottlings in this collection as well as a number of wines from the very well regarded 1998 vintage.
The Pinot Noir selection is equally desirable with some absolute superstars with Felton Road, Prophet’s Rock, Craggy Range, Ata Rangi, Pegasus Bay, Bell Hill and Kusuda. 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 Te Mata Bullnose, Trinity Hill and Bilancia La Collina. Waiheke is also vying for the top spot for Syrah production and puts forward great examples from Stonyridge and Obsidian.
Martinborough makes an infrequent visit with both Ata Rangi and Dry River.
If it is a crisp New Zealand dry white you are craving, look no further than the excellent chardonnays on offer from Felton Road, Kumeu River and Bell Hill.
Penfolds lead the charge for Australia with St Henri, Bins 407 and 389 backed with multiple vintages of Grange including the 100 point 2008 vintage. These are rubbing shoulders with Rockford Basket Press and Henschke and, for the Chardonnay drinkers, the multi-state Penfolds Yattarna 1998. Plenty of full flavoured wines there!
Other New World countries are always worth a look and, with Dominus and Hyde de Villaine from California, Cheval des Andes from Argentina and a couple of vintages 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 wines from Kabinett through to Auselese. I love German Riesling and it doesn’t get better than this.
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 Sassicaia, Masetto, and Gaja, all from Tuscany, and many wines from Piedmont with, again, Gaja, along with Produttori del Barbaresco and Paolo Scarvino.
Leading the charge for Spain is La Rioja Alta and R. Lopez de Heredia with some Rosado and Blanco.
Champagne is Mrs Wine Auction Rooms favourite tipple and the highlight for her is the MV Krug Rose 20eme Edition. This is accompanied by Ruinart Blanc de Blanc, Bollinger Special Cuvee, Laurent Perrier and Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label with some of these in case quantities.
The mighty Loire offers some lovely Chenin’s from Francois Chidaine and Domaine Huet.
The wines from the Rhone need no introduction to our bidders and the selection is vast with highlights from the north being Guigal La Mouline from Cote Rotie and three vintages of Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. Beaucastel Hommage and Domaine Marcoux from Chateauneuf du Pape proudly show off their highly prized wines. But it’s not all reds in this auction with Chave Hermitage blanc and Clos des Papes blanc adding some balance.
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 de Vogue, Francois Lamarche, Meo Camuzet, Faiveley or Bruno Cavelier? If it is white Burgundy you are after check out the William Fevre and Laurent Tribut both top of their game in Chablis. Looking further south in the Cote de Beaune and beyond, check out the Comte Lafon Clos des Barre from the Meursault.
Sauternes are proving popular in our auctions of late and it is easy to see why with the wines we can secure. Rieussec, La Tour Balance, Coutet 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, Haut Brion and Lafite Rothschild. We have Super Seconds in abundance with Leoville Las Cases, the Pichons, 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. The Right Bank looks equally inviting with wines from Cheval Blanc, including a 1982, and Pavie from St Emillion accompanied by Petrus and Hosanna from Pomerol.
With the evenings growing longer we are getting into the fortified wines with vintages of Grahams, Fonseca and Dalva from Oporto along with vintages of our own Marurans covering vintages the 1950’s and 60’s.
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.
