How to buy fine wine at auction
The Taiwanese mega-collector Pierre Chen is selling his £50 million cellar at Sotheby’s. Here’s all you need to know about snagging the best bottles at public sales
Pierre Chen isn’t the first wine lover who has had the passion and the budget to stockpile more wine than the most generous host could get through in a lifetime, but he has done so on a grand scale. The Taiwanese billionaire, who made his fortune in electronic components, has two great passions, of which wine is one. (The other, as can be seen at the Tate Modern exhibition Capturing the Moment until April 28 next year, is art.)
Wine, for Chen, is not just about the bottle, although there are certainly a lot of those: about 25,000 mouthwatering options will be sold by Sotheby’s over six auctions in France and Hong Kong, under the collective title The Epicurean’s Atlas. There will be burgundies by the late, great Henri Jayer — Vosne-Romanée Cros-Parantoux 1er Cru from 2001, the last year he made the wine — and 1971 Salon le Mesnil champagne.
The greatest postwar vintages of Bordeaux from some of the greatest châteaux will also be on offer: 1961 Château Latour and 1982 Château Pétrus. All those mentioned are in magnum, except the Pétrus, which comes as a six-litre imperial. Together, according to Sotheby’s, it is the largest and most valuable wine collection to come to the market, with a pre-sale estimate of $50 million.
For Chen, no wine — however fabulous — stands alone; it is part of the whole gastronomic experience of food, pairing, guests. He is a familiar face at some of the world’s best restaurants, including Noma in Copenhagen, the French Laundry in California and several exclusive Asian restaurants in Tokyo and Paris. In the French capital, he enjoyed the food of the exceptional Hokkaido-born chef Shinichi Sato, who was awarded two Michelin stars at his tiny Passage 53 in the 2nd arrondissement, so much that Chen has backed his new venture, Blanc, which opened this September in the 16th.
Chen believes in drinking and sharing rather than hoarding or displaying wine, which is why he has instigated this auction.
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Nick Pegna, Sotheby’s global head of wine and spirits, shares his tips for buying wine at auction
He reminds participants to be prepared. “It is better to decide what you are willing to bid on and to what level, and to place an advance bid,” he says. Sales rooms, he points out, can move quickly and that can mean missed opportunities.
Another suggestion is to pay attention to the levels (or “ullage”) of older wines. “This can give you an idea of the overall quality and how they have been stored,” Pegna says. “Lower levels mean more oxygen ingress and, perhaps, oxidation.”
By the same token, he warns enthusiasts to watch out for seepage, which usually indicates damage to the wine. Some winemakers, Pegna adds, do traditionally fill bottles to very high levels, so this is not always prescriptive. For the bargain hunter buying for their personal cellar, he points out that restaurant and trade buyers won’t want damaged labels, so these can represent good value, as can mixed lots — although those are becoming rarer.
Finally, not only will a reputable auction house be safer than somewhere with a less sterling reputation to protect, but also a dedicated and careful collector bodes well for the quality of the collection. And there can be few more assiduous or committed collectors than Pierre Chen.
The Epicurean’s Atlas first auction will be held at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on November 24 and 25; sothebys.com
