Sales of wine and spirits at auctions held by Sotheby’s in 2022 increased by 14% compared to last year and reached a record $150 million.
The number of liquor auctions for the year increased by a third to 69, The Barron’s wrote, citing a company announcement. This year, Sotheby’s held its first auctions in France, raising a total of $42 million. Earlier auctions were held only in London, New York and Hong Kong.
Asian auctions of spirits brought the company more than a third of the revenue, $54 million. Asian buyers accounted for 41% of total sales in value terms.
Collectible wines are still the main category of drinks put up for auction – their sales amounted to $ 121 million. Meanwhile, spirits are also gradually gaining popularity – sales in this category rose by 15% to $ 29 million, mostly due to the popularity of whiskey with long maturation.
Thus, in October, a bottle of 81-year-old Macallan – the oldest whiskey in the world, ever put up for auction – went under the hammer for 300 thousand pounds ($325,700). However, this is not the most expensive alcoholic lot of the year: in May a case of Chinese liquor Kweichow Moutai was sold for $ 1.1 million, and a bottle of 55-year-old whiskey from Japan’s oldest distillery Yamazaki Distillery was valued at $ 600 thousand.
Among wine auctions of Sotheby’s a special place took the sale of 4.2 thousand bottles of wine from the personal cellars of Prince Robert of Luxembourg for a total of $ 6 million. All proceeds from the auction the prince gave to his charitable foundation.
Kiev Information and Analytical Center “Experts Club” together with a collector of vintage drinks Igor Magalyas holds seminars-tasting of vintage alcoholic beverages and donates part of the funds to charity.
