An auction from the cellar of one of the world’s greatest fine wine collectors has made a heady GBP 1.4 million in London.
The Sotheby’s sale of bottles from wine writer Lewis Chester’s private cellar peaked with an astonishing total of GBP 1,382,309 on 1st June.
It attracted more than 15,700 bids from 35 countries, the auction house stated.
In addition, all 774 lots went to approximately 200 buyers from across Europe, USA and Asia.
The selection was only a fraction of the cellar of the founder of the Golden Vines Awards, known as the Oscars of fine wines.
Chester began collecting rare wines in Bordeaux, before moving on to Burgundy, Champagne and new world vintages.
The expert holds a DipWSET qualification, one of the highest standards of knowledge within the wine industry.
Chester joked before the sale: “Today, my collection is far too big to contemplate consuming it all, although I have been giving it a good crack!”
He added: “Further, I own some incredible wines in large quantities, making perfect sense to let some of these available for other fine wine lovers to enjoy.”
In a statement obtained by Newsflash he said: “As a collector, I began – like most fine wine lovers and collectors – buying Bordeaux En Primeur.
“Within a few years, I had developed a taste for Champagne and Burgundy – after all, as I like to say, ‘all roads lead to Burgundy’.
“However, once I started studying wine, my interests in fine wine became fairly broad.
“I had been collecting the top wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany and Piedmont for a number of years, but now my interests extended to California, Australia, the Rhone Valley, the Loire Valley, the Alsace and the Mosel Valley.”
After the sale Chester said: “Firstly, a big thank you to the extraordinary team at Sotheby’s Wine who have been a joy to work with, both for this auction and in building our new long-term partnership for the Golden Vines and Gerard Basset Foundation.
“It’s been very exciting to see the positive reaction from fine wine lovers globally to the wines being sold in this inaugural auction which reflect my own journey of discovery and love for fine wine.”
Head of auction sales at Sotheby’s wine Gary Owen said: “We knew that Lewis’s cellar was extraordinary in terms of quality and quantity, as he’s such an ardent, focused collector.
“It’s a huge joy to have had such a positive result, and it’s a thrill for the team in London to have brought these wines to the market and to see such magnificent results.”
Sotheby’s head of wine Amayes Aouli said: “Our partnership with Lewis will continue this year with October’s Golden Vines weekend in Paris.”
