Three sales – 2 for roughly similar values – but each for way less than a single bottle of Romanée-Conti 1945. The middle of these thre for quite a bit more…
Image right from the Auctioneer, Baghera

Done – Andrew Lloyd Weber, £500,000:
Andrew Lloyd Webber sold his wine cellar ‘treasures‘ for charity.

Hosted by Christie’s, this sale was to benefit the provision of musical instruments in schools. There was also a strong sub-text to this sale, in that Lloyd Webber has spoken about how he became an alcoholic, so in the end, the joy that he found in collecting and drinking his ‘Beaunes’ had a sad end – though not so for the schools who will benefit.

This sale raised £517,910 for The Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST), Christie’s said.

Also done – Baghera – nearly 2 million Swiss Francs:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Baghera/Wines held two auctions in Geneva on May 10, 2026, presented under the catalogues KIPLING #15 Prelude and KIPLING #16 Heartbeat.
Including a bottle of La Romanée 1865 from Bouchard Père & Fils, which achieved CHF 122,000 from two weekend sales that totalled CHF 1’948’183:

TOTAL KIPLING 15 Prelude: CHF 1’378’467 achieved
TOTAL KIPLING 16 Heartbeat: CHF 569’716 achieved

Not quite done – Laurent Ponsot, €500,000:
‘Haute Couture Burgundy, In Never Released Large Formats.‘ This online sale by Sotheby’s opened for bidding on the 15th of May and will close on the 29th of May.

202 lots are being auctioned, each coming directly from his winery, with vintages starting from when he founded his new operation, with his son, in 2017. Not all of the wines included in the sale are grand cru, but they are certainly well represented here, with Bonnes Mares, Chambertin, Clos de Saint Denis, Clos de Vougeot, Échezeaux, Montrachet, Bâtard Montrachet and Corton Charlemagne…

It’s been a while since this – eh ?

bang! 1945 romanée-conti – half a million a bottle…

And now we have:

As shocking as that price may be, I am more shocked that whisky sells for more at auction: ‘The most expensive whisky sold at auction is The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 60-Year-Old, which fetched £2,187,500 ($2.7 million) at Sotheby’s London in November 2023.‘ But maybe that’s just because I don’t drink whisky 🙂

This is seemingly the same, Drouhin-sourced, 1945, resold. So, it would appear that for the first (Sotheby’s) auction, we had an ‘investor’ rather than an ‘enthusiast’ …

From the BIVB:

Bourgogne, 7 May, 2024

The Bourgogne wine industry welcomes the recognition of the protection of the Mâcon and Gevrey-Chambertin Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée (AOCs) in China.

Coinciding with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has published the protection decisions for the Mâcon and Gevrey-Chambertin Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (AOCs).

This decision is the result of a long process that began in 2023. It should serve as a model for the subsequent registration of all the appellations in Bourgogne*.

“We can only be delighted. This registration is very good news for our AOCs and the progress made in terms of recognition of our rights. It is the fruit of exemplary cooperation between those involved in the Bourgogne wine industry (Confédération des Appellations et des Vignerons de Bourgogne, aka CAVB, and Bourgogne Wine Board, aka BIVB) and government departments (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine, aka INAO, Ministry of Agriculture, French Embassy in China)” commented together Thiébault Huber, President of the CAVB, and Laurent Delaunay, President of the BIVB.

“In our view, this is a first step, and these two appellations are models for a more general registration of all the Bourgogne appellations.”

There can be no doubt that this decision will give the leaders of the Bourgogne wine industry the weapons they need to better protect the rights of Bourgogne producers in China.

*Bourgogne wines count 84 AOC and several hundred Climats classified as AOC Village & Premier Cru.

I first got wind of this in early December but not having yet visited Leflaive I wanted to ask Pierre personally about it – that, and out of respect for Fabrice and Sophie who have been running the Domaine des Terres de Velle these last years. I do now have my appointment at Leflaive – but in another month!

But now we have a press release:

“Domaine des Terres de Velle becomes Domaine Pierre Vincent
In the beginning, this was a project born out of three men’s passion for wine and for Bourgogne: Hervé Kratiroff, Eric Versini and Pierre Vincent. A friendship that developed into a shared dream – of owning a wine estate in the Côte d’Or with exceptional Climats as found in the Côte de Beaune.

So when Domaine des Terres de Velle with its magnificent parcels and outstanding vines came on the market, the decision was quickly made in the face of such a rarity. And on 18 July 2023 the Solexia Group took possession of the Domaine des Terres de Velle at Auxey-Duresses. The three men were associates in this new adventure.

Domaine des Terres de Velle first came into being in 2009. Highly representative of a ‘Burgundian’ mosaic, it produced 16 wines each year from the fruit of 7 hectares situated in the most prestigious villages of the Côte de Beaune.

They included notably exceptional appellations such as Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru; Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Chaumées; Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Referts: Meursault Premier Cru, Les Charmes; Savigny-Lès-Beaune Premier Cru, Aux Vergelesses for the white. For the reds: Volnay Premier Cru, Le Ronceret and Monthélie Premier Cru, Les Duresses.”

It seems that Pierre will retain his position at Leflaive until the end of 2024.