Wealthy connoisseurs and collectors of prestigious wines have freed up a few days in early April for a unique sale of thousands of collectible bottles organized by the auction house “Lombray-Tecam” in the chic surroundings of the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
The total value of all lots is tentatively estimated at 6 million euros. All the bottles exhibited at the auction come from the same collection of a major collector and enthusiastic about the history of French winemaking man.
For more than 50 years this enthusiast, now deceased, whose name the auctioneers do not announce, bought up and preserved tens of thousands of bottles. His heirs decided to scatter this collection at auction. In the “Ritz” April 3 7 will go under the hammer about 30 thousand bottles.
Those who have had the opportunity to get acquainted with the collection, they say that this is the very material history of the best millezimy, the milestones of the winemaking of post-war France. The collector bought his wines following recommendations from the most renowned, internationally recognized experts in the wine industry.
“The auction house informed me of a certain significant cellar. But it never occurred to me to be in front of such a treasure. It is a kind of Grail, the best initiation into wine experts,” admires Claude Maratier, a specialist who has been invited to advise a number of famous wine auctions. This time he was asked to authenticate each of the bottles.
According to connoisseurs, the selection is worthy of a museum. Among the tens of thousands of bottles are 2,000 magnums (one-and-a-half-liter jars), hundreds of cases of Bordeaux grands crus classés (collected from the best vineyards). As well as batches of bottles of the legendary Petrus, Le Pin, Haut-Brion, Clinet, Mouton-Rothschild and a whole range of other wines of the southwest of France, coveted by any lover.
The collector, of course, did not forget about Burgundy. Numerous cases of the best Burgundian wines – grands crus and premiers crus – from the estates of Romanée-Conti, Dujac, Georges Roumier, Armand Rousseau and others, whose names alone say a lot to true connoisseurs, were put up for auction.
“To describe it in a few words, very simply: all the best is here. Bidders will see only the famous labels and only the best vintage years, such as many wines of the mythical, especially for the Rhone Valley, 1978. Seeing it all was an exciting sight,” comments Claude Maratier.
“At the same time,” emphasizes the expert, “all these wines are in impeccable state of preservation, as if they were new, fresh off the bottling line. I’ve never seen anything like it. The labels are intact, the capsules on the necks look great – all of which should appeal to discerning buyers. This is a cellar of treasures carefully collected over the years.”
The starting prices of the lots are known. For example, a set of six “magnums” Petrus 1982 will be traded from 40-50 thousand euros. A set of bottles Romanée-Conti 1976 year offered for 50-60 thousand euros.
