We are thrilled to offer you our final live auction for 2022. And what a year it has been with a very buoyant secondary market; and our experience is echoed by the Liv-Ex Fine Wine Market showing wine to be one of the best investments of the last couple of years outperforming many of the more traditional markets.
We wish to thank all our vendors and buyers whose charm, discernment and loyalty continues to shape our business and we hope to share a glass or two with you over the festive season.
This sale starts with a selection of well represented New Zealand Bordeaux blends. There are the usual suspects with wines from Stonyridge, Te Whau, Destiny Bay and Te Motu from Waiheke along with Te Mata, Craggy Range and the second vintage of Villa Maria Ngakirikiri as well as Church Road Tom and the wonderful Puriri Hills from Clevedon
Sub-regions for Pinot Noir are really coming to the fore and Bannockburn is well represented from Central Otago with Craggy Range Calvert, Mt Difficulty and Felton Road. But it’s not all about Bannockburn in Central Otago. Check out Prophet’s Rock with vintages of Cuvee aux Antipodes and Retrospect. Further north we come across more Pyramid Valley and Bell Hill from Waikari, Mountford from Waipara and super-star Martinborough producers Kusuda, Ata Rangi, Dry River and Martinborough Vineyards with their Marie Zelie and the 30th Anniversary Pinot Noir.
New Zealand’s Syrah gets a great deal of praise and rightly so. This auction presents a great selection including Trinity Hill Homage and Craggy Range Le Sol from Hawkes Bay. Kusuda and Martinborough Vineyards from Wairarapa and Obsidian and Michael from Waiheke.
Our selection of whites offer fantastic drinking over the summer months with crowd pleasers such as Pyramid Valley, Bell Hill, Te Mata Elston, Elephant Hill and the seldom seen Herzog chardonnays as well as Vinoptima for all the gewurzt lovers out there.
Not to be outdone, Australia puts its best foot forward with an amazing selection of Penfolds with Bins 2, 28, 389, 407 and 707 along with St Henri, Grange RWT and the only twice produced Block 42. But that’s not all from the West Island as there is also Cullen and Howard Park from West Australia Wynn’s John Riddoch, Mollydooker, Henschke and Rockford Basket Press.
For a while we have been very strong with the fantastic Rieslings from Germany and this offering continues that story with Joh. Jos. Prumm, Donnhoff, Fritz Haag and the absolutely drop-dead gorgeous wines of Egon Muller.
Tuscany dominates the Italian section with Masseto, Sassicaia and Ornellaia (including an Ornellaia Bianco), Brunello di Montalcino has Gaja and Lisini but if you are looking for a great bottle to adorn your Christmas dinner table, it will be hard to go past the 3 litre Antinori Pian dell Vigne Brunello. Bellisimo!
Mrs Wine Auction Room is adamant that Champagne should be consumed at anytime and especially during the Festive season. We have some beauties on offer with vintages of Dom Perignon, Laurent Perrier, Bollinger, Charles Heidsieck, Roederer, Taittinger, Krug and Salon from the establishment with new superstars like Henri Giraud expressing their undoubted talents.
Things really start fizzing once we get to the Rhone with many 100 point wines. We start in Cote Rotie with Guigal, including Lalas, Vidal Fleury and Jamet. Moving slightly south to St Joseph with more Guigal down to Hermitage for Ferraton, or the 100 point Chapoutier 3 litre from Cote Rotie. The Southern Rhone, dominated by Chateauneufs, also gets the taste buds flying with many original wooden cases of Mordoree along with Mont Redon, Pegau and Beaucastel .
Burgundy has been getting a lot of attention lately and we have some excellent examples with Grivot, Lucien le Moine, Francois Millet, Dugat Py, Fourrier, JF Mugnier, Faiveley, de Vogue, Rene Engel and the very rare for New Zealand Domaine Duroche.
If white Burgundy is your tipple, feast your eyes on Jean-Marc Boillot wines or perhaps the Domaine Leflaives. If you are anything like me, it will be the Vincent Dauvissat Chablis from many vintages that will get your heart all a flutter.
Sauternes is always a Christmas favourite and whether it is a 1960 Chateau d’Yquem or maybe a 100 point and Wine Spectator ‘Wine of the Year’ 2001 Chateau Rieussec or something in between, this sale has something for you.
Bordeaux is traditionally strong, and it is no different in this auction with great examples from both the Left and Right Banks from Classed Growths to Cru Bourgeois. Whether it be a Second Growth, a Super Second or a second wine there is something to whet your whistle. Check out the larger format wines with magnums and 3 litre bottlings for the extended family when they visit.
The fortified selection features wines from the 1970s and the early 2000s but the undoubted stars of the line-up are the 100 point and Wine Spectator ‘Wine of the Year’ Taylor’s 1994 or the 20/20 from Jancis Robinson MW - 2003 Quinta do Noval Nacional.
Please take your time to scroll through our final catalogue for 2022. We know that each lot offers great value and may even be that perfect gift for the holiday season. 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 long term
As with buying any second-hand goods there can be risk. This risk can be mitigated through reviewing our provenance notes, 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.
