What A Corker!

26th November 2022

It is nearly Christmas, so we find ourselves once again at our annual Wine, Brandy, Port & Whisky auction. Cataloguing this sale always leaves me more than ready for seasonal merriment and as ever the room was filled with cheery regulars who year on year make the pilgrimage to fill their cellars and invest in the exotic.

The brandy & miscellaneous section typically starts the sale, hiding some of the more unusual bottles that find themselves outside of the classical sections.  There was plenty to talk about, with brandy and cognac selling as well as ever, and gin continuing its healthy rise. An early result was a bottle of “Very Special Rum” produced for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, reaching the premium price of £300, due to the fact the producers misspelt the label – articles at the time letting loose with “Royals have rum old time”!  We had three bottles of vintage Chartreuse, selling predictably well, with £380 each for bottles of yellow and green, but the best of the bunch was an earlier bottle that (with a cork top) made a whopping £1,100, tipping just ahead of the top estimate. The section finished strongly with 5 consecutive lots of early Solera madeira, the youngest being from 1915 and the older 1826, the younger of the batch selling at £380, the 1861 examples at £560 and the oldest topping the scale at £620.

We had a much larger cigar section than normal, spanning across the world, but as expected with most from Cuba. The best of the section came from a burr walnut humidor filled with a mixture of  Cuban cigars at £440, a sealed box of 25 Montecristo No.4 Habana cigars that sold at £300, and £1,300 for a box of 25 Cohiba Lanceros cigars; I am told that the type of box was typically given to those of high standing in Cuba and was in fact gifted to our vendor whilst staying at a family of Doctors on her “year out”. 

We then had a short but bubbly section of Champagne, filled with all the classic names, such as Dom Perignon and Bollinger. But the highlights came from one bottle of 1990 Roederer Cristal Champagne in striking orange at £300, a boxed and sealed 1996 Moet et Chandon rose at £320, a magnum 1953 Moet & Chandon Dry Imperial champagne at £340 and a bottle of 1973 Krug vintage champagne that peaked the section at £400.

A second year running we had a mammoth whisky section that across the board sold superbly as whisky prices remain high. Of the 130 lots only 3 didn’t sell and a healthy percentage beat their pre-sale estimate. There were too many highlights to mention, but forced to find a few, we had a 30yr old Glenlivet selling at £340, a 35yr old Strathisla at £360 and a bottle of Glenlivet 25yr old Royal Wedding Reserve that made £420. The four best prices from single bottles by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society were a Dallas Dhu that made £400, an Old Pultney at £340, a Glen Mhor at £520 and an Ardbeg that did around ten times its estimate at £2,300; I never mind this sort of surprise!  We had a large number of well selling bottles of Connoisseurs Choice by Gordon & McPhail, the best being two bottles of 1981 Port Ellen that made £350 each, a 1982 Brora made £360 and a 1982 Port Ellen made £420. A wonderfully old bottle of Bulloch Lades “Old Rarity” made ten times the bottom estimate making £580, a 30yr old Glenmorangie made £660 and a 1968 Strathisla 33yr old single highland malt reached £750. We had multiple entries from the famed Macallan distillery, with varied prices for 10yr old examples peaking at £380 and a bottle of The Macallan 100° proof that sold at the top of its estimate for £1,450.

Of the 60 lots of port, only 1 didn’t sell, and prices across the board seemed to follow estimates with reasonable accuracy.  A bottle of 1927 Velho port made £210, a 1955 Dows vintage port made £230, and two consecutive bottles of 1945 Dows vintage port made £620 and £660.

We had large sections of Bordeaux and Burgundy filled with some of the most famed chateaux of France. Including 12 bottles of 1967 Grand Vin De Chateau Latour that reached £1,350, three bottles of 1983 Chateau Margaux in consecutive lots that made £340, £340 and £360 respectively, and 2 bottles of 1982 Chateau L'Evangile that made £630. The best results from our offerings from Chateau d'Yquem came with £360 for a bottle from 1989 and £600 for a bottle from 1963. Three bottles of 1982 Chateau Haut-Brion made £1,450 and seven bottles of 1978 La Chapelle Hermitage happily jogged past the £4000 top estimate to make a healthy £6,200.  But the best of the sale came with three lots of Le Pin when 7 bottles of the Pomerol dated 1983 fell to an absentee bidder at £9,000 and two single bottles of same chateau, but a year earlier in 1982 made a corking £4,600 each on the hammer.

Overall, we were close to doubling our lower estimate across the day and of the 574 lots we were left with only 9 lots unsold, giving us a whopping 98.5% sale rate. I have already started collecting lots for next year’s sale, with four vendors already safely in our store and happily invite anybody wanting a valuation as soon as they like.  Pre-sale valuation is free, so you can ring our offices for an appointment, or email me on charlie@hartleysauctions.co.uk.