Classic Bordeaux at Zachys....The VinGardeValise is a wine suitcase that would provide you with a functional, stylish, sturdy, and durable piece of wine luggage that you will travel

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Classic Bordeaux at Zachys.

The star of Zachys’ $7.2 million sale in Manhattan on Sept. 22 and 23 was a series of classic 1961 Bordeaux lots. Eight of the sale’s top 10 lots hailed from the vintage, including three cases of the iconic 1961 Château Latour, one selling for $51,450 and two for $49,000.

The auction’s showstopper was a case of 1961 Pétrus which sailed above its pre-sale high estimate of $110,000 for $140,875. The Pétrus was followed by a case and five magnums of 1961 La Mission Haut-Brion, selling for $49,000 each. The successful sale showed that the ’61s are still going strong.

Hart Davis Hart Aubrey K. McClendon Collection and December Auction.

On Sept. 17, Hart Davis Hart held an auction of the late Aubrey K. McClendon’s wine collection, a consignment consisting of 1,057 lots. The sale exceeded all expectations and brought in $8.44 million (the highest total of the quarter) against a pre-sale high estimate of $7.6 million. The sale was 100 percent sold, and nearly 80 percent of the lots sold above the high estimate. The most expensive lot of the day was a case of three double-magnums of Château La Fleur-Pétrus 1989 that fetched $65,725. Other highlights included a 12-bottle case of Château Le Pin 1989, which sold for $41,825, and an imperial of Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1982, which brought in $21,510 against an estimate of a $14,000. Hart Davis Hart capped 2016 with a massive three-day auction held on December 15th, 16th, and 17th. Over the course of seven auctions held this year, HDH garnered $48.88 million, making Hart Davis Hart the largest seller of fine wines at auction in the United States, surpassing their nearest competitor by nearly 50%.

The prodigious December auction realized $9.5 million against presale estimates of $6.3–$9.4 million. 100% of the 4,324 lots were sold to over 600 bidders from around the globe. Over 45% of all lots met or exceeded their high-estimates, with many achieving astonishing prices. This phenomenal sale solidified HDH’s position as the #1 wine auction house in the U.S.. In addition, the firm achieved the industry’s highest sell-through rate - not one of the 17,152 lots offered this year was passed.

ISSUE 10 | WineCollector - Quarterly Newsletter designed with Canadian Wine Collectors in mind.

RareDRCLes

Gaudichotssteals

showatSotheby’s

Six bottles of rare Domaine de la Romanee-Conti wine stole the show at Sotheby’s recent London sale, which made a total £1.1m and was over 90% sold. While buyers focused on lots from Haut-Brion, Lafite and Petrus, the most notable lot came in the form of six bottles of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti’s 1926 Les Gaudichots, which sold to a US trade buyer for £49,350. Stephen Mould, head of Sotheby’s Wine, Europe, commented: “A thirst for rare wine was evident throughout the sale, led by six bottles of Vosne Romanée Les Gaudichots 1926 – part of a time capsule of historical wines with impeccable provenance – which soared over estimate.” Domaine de la Romanee

Conti folded its

Gaudichots plots into La

Tache when it acquired

the monopole from the

Liber-Belair family in the

1930s, so the original

label no longer technically

exists.

Year in review Liv-ex 100.

Stability has been returned to the market after four consecutive years of declines and

has provided a springboard for recovery over the course of 2016.

As can be seen from the graph below, every month this year has seen the Fine Wine

100 experience some measure of positive movement with July and October in

particular experiencing gains of over 3%. It closed November 2016 at a new high of

296.60, an increase of 1.02% on October’s close of 293.60. It has now reached record

highs for four consecutive months.

The Fine Wine 100 is likely to finish 2016 well in the black and if the positive gains can

be maintained through the last two months of the year, it will be the first time since

records began to see upward movement in every month of a calendar year.

Liv-ex was founded in 2000 by former stockbrokers James Miles and Justin Gibbs. It is

composed of wines from eight different regions and recognised as the industry

benchmark.

On November 22nd Liv-ex Managing Director, James Miles was interviewed

on Bloomberg’s “What Did You Miss?” about the recent market trends and the impact

of currency fluctuations on the fine wine market. When asked about what actually

drives the price of fine wine as an investment, James explained that in the past they

have seen quite a close correlation between wine and Forbes, the increased value of

assets amongst the world’s richest people. Another interesting point was a close

correlation with the industrial production in emerging markets, which makes sense, as

in the last 10 years Hong Kong and China have been significant consumers of fine

wine.


Another interesting issue discussed was the currency movements correlation, as Liv-ex index is priced in Sterling and currency movements have been a large factor in the rally we have seen in fine wine prices in the last 12 months, clearly the impact of Brexit and weakened Sterling.

That, according to James, coincided with a lot of demand from the mainstream markets, like the US. The sale of fine wines has more then doubled in the US in the last 12 months. In that sense the US consumer is cashing in on the weakness of Sterling.

October was an active month, with trade on the market up over 10% by both value and volume. With a weaker Sterling, the secondary market continues to see increased buying from Euro and Dollar-based merchants.

In US Dollars, the Liv-ex 1000 is down 4.4% over one year. 90% of wines in the index have risen in Sterling terms, but only 35% have risen in Dollars. Given the recent Sterling weakness, viewing the Liv-ex 1000 in Dollars therefore gives a better perspective of where there is real strength in the fine wine market.

Interestingly enough most of the top performers this year have been the second wines of Bordeaux First Growth. As the table above shows, though their gains have been greater in Sterling, they are still up significantly in Dollars.

Amongst the Liv-ex 1000 sub-indices, Bordeaux has been leading the charge. The Bordeaux Legends 50 (+24.5%) and the Liv-ex Bordeaux 500 (+22.7%) have increased the most this year. However, the Champagne 50 (+3.9%) and Burgundy 150 (2.5%) are closing the gap after making strong gains this month. The Italy 100 (-1.0%) and Rhone 100 (-0.6%) continue to lag behind having recorded small declines this month.


Over the years we have had a number of clients who frequently travel with wines and

they were asking for a solution that would make it easier and safer. Iron Gate is proud

to introduce to the Canadian market the VinGardeValise – our proposed solution to

wine travel.

The VinGardeValise is a wine suitcase that would provide you with a functional, stylish, sturdy, and durable piece of wine luggage that you will travel with proudly and that will safely carry your “bottled poetry” anywhere in the world. Every component and design feature has been rigorously tested and retested, reflecting creator’s singular focus on quality, ease of use, and durability.

The VinGardeValise is the creation of Barry Wax, when a friend challenged him to design the ultimate wine carrier, he masterminded the VinGardeValise over a three-year period, developing a number of prototypes before creating the final design.

WINE TRAVEL NEWS

Single barrel of

2015 Palmer sells

for HK$3m

A 225-litre barrel of

2015 Palmer sold

recently for HK$3m

in Hong Kong at the

estate’s first ex-

cellar sale in the

country.

The Sotheby’s

auction featured a

collection of old and

rare Chateau Palmer

sourced from its

cellars, and made a

total HK$15.1m

overall, with results

“well above

expectations”.

Other highlights

included a full case

of 1961 Palmer,

which sold for

HK$465,500, and a

case of 1959, which

sold for

HK$367,500.

The leading lot – the

barrel of 2015 – sold

for six times above

its original estimate.

Thomas Duroux,

CEO of Château

Palmer, said: “The

sale result today

was well above our

best expectation.”

Most Traded Wine in 2016

Lafite Rothschild 2010 has been the most traded wine so far in 2016 by value. It has also seen gradual prices rises throughout the year: it last traded for £6,040 per 12×750, a 19.6% increase on its first trade of 2016 (£5,050). Despite these increases, the wine, which Robert Parker called “a very impressive … big, rich, full-throttle Lafite Rothschild” (98 points) remains significantly discounted on its high En Primeur release price of £12,000.

If you have any questions about

renting (a few available for rent at

Iron Gate) or buying, please

contact [email protected]


MAUREEN DOWNEY of winefraud.com – Special interview for IRON GATE

Combatting wine fraud is part and parcel of Maureen’s appreciation of the hard work, skill and artistry that goes

into creating great wine. With over 20 years of in depth wine industry experience, Maureen Downey stands out

as an independent expert on fine and rare wines. As the foremost authority on counterfeit wine Maureen has

compiled the largest database on the subject in the world. Specializing in authentication and valuation,

Maureen has inspected hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wine in the course of advising the world’s top

collectors, auction houses, wine merchants, restaurants and hotels. In 2014, her company Chai Consulting

received US trademarks for The Chai Method, Wine Authentication and The Chai Method Wine Valuation.

Maureen has also advised the FBI and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in a number of high profile

cases. She worked closely with the FBI on the Rudy Kurniawan case, advising them for many years in the

initial investigation and in the subsequent lead up to trial and was a key subject in the recent documentary

“Sour Grapes” (available on Netflix).

Iron Gate had a fantastic opportunity to ask Maureen a few questions.

1. How did you get into this business and was there anyone doing this before you? Did you start as a

wine authenticator or did you start in another aspect of the business and morph into what you do now?

I started studying wine as a freshman at Boston University. I started in wine auctions in 2000, when it was really

a new industry in NYC. There was no one to teach me about authentication. I had heard there might be fake

wine, but it was not something we really learned about. But I have a great eye for detail – and thought it was

fascinating when I started finding them – so I just got really good at authentication.

2. How did you learn your trade? I assume there’s no school for wine authentication.

I paid attention, I asked questions, I did a lot of reading and research. I asked experts on paper and on glass to

teach me about those things. I was not afraid to question things and to spend the time looking for the truth. I

think having to do so much research is one reason my knowledge is so strong. I was not taught much, I had to

learn everything by realizing things did not look/seem right and then going to research if I was correct or not…

3. What was the first fake wine that you have discovered?

When I was at Morrell & Company I reached in the back of a table to grab a1982 Petrus, and when I went to lift

it I almost threw it on the ceiling. I was expecting it to have a certain amount of weight, but it was very cheap

glass that was way too light. That one was easy – but it was the first one I ever found on my own.

4. Do you feel like wine fraud is increasing lately due to better technology available to fraudsters and

does that make it harder to spot fake wines?

It is increasing for many reasons:

a) So few people have been prosecuted that criminals – even organized crime, have realized that wine

fraud is incredibly lucrative and incredibly low risk. In France the maximum penalty is 2 years in jail. If

you can make millions and millions, and the worst that can happen is 2 years – that is much more

attractive than trafficking in drugs or humans.

b) Global market demand is expanding faster than knowledge, which opens up huge avenues for

fraudsters to get counterfeits and stolen wines to market and to buyers.


c) The Internet it allowing a level of anonymity that protects fraudsters.

d) And finally the technology has improved to the point where making counterfeit labels is quite easy –

especially considering the prevalence of (b), and the fact that the vast majority of buyers are just not

being that careful – and so many vendors care more about making a buck than they do about protecting their clients, and the market in which they live and work.

5. What would be the top 5 counterfeited wines that you see?

Most counterfeited wines worldwide would be Petrus, DRC, Lafite, 1945 Mouton and Henri Jayer.

6. What was the most egregious counterfeit you ever saw…almost laughable in its lack of authenticity?

3L bottles of 1945 DRC RC were pretty bad and these photos below show some of the worst, most obvious

examples.

7. Is there a correlation between the price of the bottle and how counterfeited it is? In other words, the

more expensive the bottle the bigger chance it would be fake or are some wines easier to counterfeit

than others even though they may not be worth as much per bottle.

People either counterfeit value or quantity. So they counterfeit DRC and Petrus a few hundred bottles at a time,

that are worth thousands, or they make tens of thousands of bottles of Miraval rosé, which is not an incredibly

expensive bottle, but which has huge global market demand. The fact is that no type of wine is immune to

fraud. Bulk wine and the rarest of fine wines are all counterfeited. If people can make a buck – they will fake

and sell something.


8. Advise for our readers: two most important things to look for to spot a counterfeit?

Make sure the different parts of the bottle look like they belong together: a ragged label with a pristine capsule

are not congruent; a low fill with an immaculate capsule and new looking cork does not make sense; a capsule

that is corroded and seeping with a label that looks brand new is not consistent with the two pieces having aged

together…

There is no such thing as a counterfeit bottle without a counterfeit story. If the story is too good to be true, if the

price is too good to be true– it is – walk away!

9. Do you have a means of warning the buying public in general or does each bottle need to be

authenticated individually?

I think we try to warn the public. At WineFraud.com, we send out warnings to members as soon as we learn

about frauds and bottles that are popping up to make them aware. With my colleagues – we publicize important

information on www.wineberserkers.com to try and get the word out.

10. Your site, WineFraud.com is a tremendously valuable source for fraudulent wine data. How do you

know you’re not teaching those will criminal intentions?

We have a long list of people that are NOT allowed to join. All that we can do is monitor closely who signs up.

We also monitor closely if people share log-ins. We have already cancelled one membership for giving it to

someone that was not authorized to use it.

11. Do most clients hire you prior to buying a bottle or after they have purchased? Is there any

recourse for them after the fact?

Tragically – most hire me afterwards. There is ABSOLUTELY recourse.

We go in and inspect and make reports of all the counterfeits and those are presented to the vendors that sold

the counterfeit wines. Tragically, all too often notorious vendors take the bottles back and resell them to the

next unsuspecting buyer as authentic, thereby making yet ANOTHER profit off the bottles. It makes me ill.

12. Are there any companies that are so rife with fake wines in their portfolio that you call them out? If

so, are you ever concerned of reprisal or lawsuits because of that?

I judge more by the fact that certain companies have done such a poor job of vetting fakes, or that they have

lied about provenance that I just will not go near them: Acker Merrall & Condit in NYC and Hong Kong, Park

Avenue Liquors in NYC, Antique Wine Company in London, Baghera Auctions in Switzerland, Dragon 8 Auction

in HK are all examples of vendors I would not go near because they have harmed the industry and their clients

too much to be given any business.

I get sued, but I am right, so I can defend myself. I say lots of very strong statements, but I can back them up,

and could win the lawsuits if it came down to it as I could prove that my statements are supported by facts.

I do get sued by fraudsters to annoy me and to waste my time and money. It is really annoying – but I am their

nemesis and one of the only people willing to be outspoken about the issue. So far, I have been correct about

all my claims. That must drive the fraudsters CRAZY! I love this quote which apparently originated from WWII

bomber pilots. They could tell when they were over the target when they could see, hear and feel the flak.'

“ If you’re not catching flak,*

you’re not over the target.”

- Anonymous


13. The industry seems to be stemming the tide by introducing new technologies into their packaging.

Hidden chips, capsule seals, etc. Do you think these are valuable and some day will there be no more

fakes?

There will always be counterfeits. I do not feel that a one-step solution is the answer, which is why I have teamed

up with Everledger to introduce the Chai Wine Vault https://www.winefraud.com/chai-wine-vault/

Chai Wine Vault certification will revolutionize wine authentication and provenance tracking for the fine wine

industry by ensuring the protection and future value of wine investments in a secure, immutable, incorruptible and

timeless digital vault. Everledger’s ‘blockchain’ solution was developed last year for the diamond industry but its

core characteristics are applicable to the wine industry as well. To create a digital profile for each bottle or case of wine, over 90 data points are taken, along with high-resolution photographs and records of ownership and

storage.

This data is then stored by Everledger and each time the wine is moved between stakeholders in the supply

chain the ownership and storage records are updated. Retailers, wholesalers, auction houses and warehouses

can then look up the digital record for wines to see their provenance.

The system bears some similarity to the LWIN/Standard in Bond Passport solution that has been implemented by

Liv-ex, although Chai Wine Vault is about collating a database of authenticated fine wines and Liv-ex’s system is

primarily concerned with making trade more instantaneous and efficient. 14.What does one do in the situation that they have been sold counterfeit wine? Who do they report it to? They can start by telling us at WineFraud.com and we can be sure to alert the proper authorities. We work with a lot of different groups in the world and be sure to get them in touch with the correct organizations to

report a crime. We can then get to work to make sure they are made whole by any bad purchases. And finally –

we get to work with my group of colleagues, the group I call the “superfriends of wine fraud” to shut down the

fraudsters!

15. Is there more work than you’re able to handle and, if so, how do you vet those you train to

authenticate with you?

I am being very selective about those that I am going to train to be TCM Certified Authenticators®. The initial

group is all people who have attended (or are going to be attending) training in London and Hong Kong. I will have met and/or already know all of them. Even for those that are attending the Wine Fraud & Counterfeiting

Presentations and Authentication Training, we have people that we do not know provide work information and

references, so we can check them out. I have already had to turn away people that worked for a company on our

‘cannot attend’ list. It may not be perfect – but it is as much as I can do!

IG note: Warren would be attending a training seminar in Hong Kong in February 2017 and we will have a full

report about it in our next newsletter.

16. Is there always something on a fake bottle that makes you 100% sure or sometimes do you have to

declare that you have a suspicion but are not sure?

Sometimes there are, other times it is really hard. There are lots of reasons that bottles do not fit with in the ‘rules’

– and that is when things get complicated. I am sure people that have attended my level I training will be a bit

confused at some of the Authentic bottles on winefraud.com because based on the initial information they received, they would think those bottles are fake, but sometimes – there are reasons that things don’t fit. So it is

not always cut and dry. That is why authentication is such a complicated art.

17. Lastly, are you usually the most interesting person at a cocktail party? J LOL, my boyfriend doesn’t

think so! I think people are most interested to find me drinking gin, or rosé…


At first glance, global auction sales of fine and rare wine in the first half of 2016 seemed to represent little change from last year’s record. The global total of $138 million is just a 1 percent increase over the same period in 2015. But a closer look at the top three markets—the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong—shows some surges and a notable fall, demonstrating the unpredictable nature of the marketplace now. This year’s sales in the U.S. were up 10 percent at $84 million, while U.K. sales rose 19 percent to $15.5 million. Hong Kong was the only laggard, dropping 18 percent in sales to $38.7 million. The slowdown in Asia's biggest auction market is partially due a shift in consignment practices. “With the strengthening market in the Americas, less wine is being shipped from the United States to Hong Kong for sale,” explained Jamie Ritchie, CEO of Sotheby’s global wine division. “Asian buyers are still incredibly important to all wine-auction sales worldwide, regardless of the location, and continue to lead global demand.” Because a significant demographic of Hong Kong collectors regularly bid on U.S. sales, any rise in performance of the Hong Kong market would most likely come at the expense of a faltering U.S. market. An increase in New York sales was driven by factors such as new buyers from smaller markets (houses like Zachys and Sotheby’s quoted an unusual 8 percent of bidders from Mexico at some of their top auctions) and a resurgence of interest in vintage collectibles among domestic collectors. Pristine consignments from American cellars and ex-château offerings from acclaimed French and Italian wineries, such as Bordeaux’s Château Palmer and Tuscany’s Ornellaia, proliferated during the past six months. Burgundy still leads the collectible category in terms of total sales by value,

but Bordeaux and California selections like Harlan Estate and Screaming

Eagle are trending upward. Familiar names like Domaine de la Romanée-

Conti, Henri Jayer, Domaine Ponsot, Château Pétrus and Sine Qua Non

continue to be in strong demand.

Record-

breakingJayer

salehits£1.5m

Bidding for a “time capsule” of wines from Henri Jayer

pushed Sotheby’s latest London sale to

a record-breaking £1.5m

The 12 lots of Henri Jayer alone sold for

£902,000 – more than double the pre-sale low estimate –

in what has been called one of the “most successful

wine auctions ever seen in London”.

New auction records were set for cases of

Jayer’s Richebourg 1976 and 1978, with

12 bottles of the former selling for

£108,100 and two cases of the latter

selling for £211,500 each – triple their

high estimate.

Seven of the top 10 lots were Jayer, with the rest represented

by Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. All

top lots were purchased by Asian

buyers.

The Jayer collection had lain virtually

untouched all of its life, and caused a

significant stir before the sale due to the number of full, rare cases it contained.

2016WineAuctionsUpinU.S.andU.K.,DowninHongKong


In conjunction with The Drinks Business, Liv-ex has released the eleventh edition of the Liv-ex Power 100 – the annual list of the most powerful brands in the fine wine market. Key findings this year: 1. Bordeaux has regained its position as the big hitter in the Liv-ex Power 100, and the top five brands are the

five First Growths.

2. The last time the First Growths took all the top slots was in 2010. That was at the peak of the fine wine market.

3. 57 of 100 wines are from Bordeaux; 19 from Burgundy; 9 from Italy; 6 from Champagne and 9 from other

regions.

4. The Fine Wine market continues to broaden with collectors seeing investment potential in the top brands from

Tuscany, Piedmont and Champagne.

5. Buyer diversification continues, with the variety of wines and vintages traded wider than ever before. This year

670 brands traded, up 265 on the previous year. Of the brands, 199 qualified for the 2016 ranking, an increase

of 19.8% on 2015.

To calculate the scores, we took a list of all wines that traded on Liv-ex in the last year (1st September 2015 – 31st August 2016) and grouped these by brand. We then identified brands that had traded a minimum of three wines or vintages and a total trade value of at least £10,000. Brands were ranked using four criteria: year on year price performance, trading performance on Liv-ex (value and volume traded), the number of different wines and vintages traded, and the average price. The individual rankings were then combined with a weighting of one for each criterion, except trading performance which had a weighting of 1.5 (as it combined two criteria: value and volume traded). The final 100 brands accounted for over 2,046 unique wines and vintages traded in the past year. Below are the results in full for the 2016 Liv-ex Power 100, the TOP 1-24:

2016 Power 100: First Come First Growths


Sterling’s slide keeps fine wine prices moving upwards.

As we reported last quarter, the immediate aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the EU saw fine wine prices surge. This appeared to be largely a reaction to sterling’s fall against all major currencies, which made wine, priced in sterling, substantially cheaper for buyers based overseas.

As Sterling’s slide continued in Q3, so wine prices continued to climb. In the three months to 30 September, GBP fell by between 3 and 5% against the most relevant currencies. Meanwhile the headline wine index, the Liv-ex 100, rose by 8%. The difference might be explained by the dramatic falls in sterling in the last days of June (i.e. in Q2) taking some time to show their full effects.

However, interest in fine wine as an asset also continues to rise as returns elsewhere are squeezed. For anyone arguing against the suitability of fine wine as an investment, the absence of any dividend or coupon income has always been a major factor. But in a world where cash returns are negligible and possibly negative, this argument carries very little weight. Investors throughout the world are searching for better returns than those achieved on more traditional assets and, with established indices and exchanges, wine is at the forefront of such ‘alternatives’. Investment inflows seem, therefore, convincingly greater than outflows, for the first time for many years.

Other indicators are also positive: bid/offer ratios on Liv- ex, the fine wine exchange, remained very high, while trading volumes remained healthy even over the normally quiet periods of summer and the Chinese mid- Autumn festival. The ‘Lafite premium’ (the extent to which market bellwether Château Lafite is more expensive than the other Bordeaux first growths, has been climbing steadily (see graph).

Finally, even more encouraging trends: we saw broad based demand, including for wines such as Lafleur, Ausone and d’Yquem, which have been out of favour for some time. We also noted a bias towards smaller trades, suggesting healthy demand from final consumers (as opposed to restocking from the trade).

Sterling continued to fall in October as speculation about the form of the UK’s exit from the EU continues. If this decline persists, it is likely to provide relatively easy gains for wine prices in the shorter term. But even if not, there may well be sufficient underlying strength to withstand a reversal in currency strengths – exactly as we saw for a period in the spring.

Even with neutral exchange rate conditions, there appears to be plenty of scope for the recovery to continue. Prices remain well below trend and, although the increases in 2016 appear sharp in sterling terms, they are small when viewed in dollar, euro or renminbi terms. Viewed from Japan (one of the top 5 buyers of Bordeaux worldwide), meanwhile, prices have actually fallen by 13% in 2016 (to 30 September), leaving them at their lowest level for nearly four years. So in the local currencies of most buyers, prices are still cheap by the standards of the last ten years.


Rhonevalleywinebecomes

themostexpensivebottlesoldatauction

A bottle of Jaboulet Aine, Hermitage “La Chapelle” 1961 has taken the top spot as the most expensive wine sold at auction in a ranking compiled by iDealWine, a global platform for buying, selling and estimating wines, which also reports on the wine market. The single bottle of Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 from the Jaboulet estate sold for 13,320 euros at auction to an Austrian enthusiast, surpassing its estimate by 67 per cent. While the world's most prestigious wines often hit headlines for fetching astronomical sums at auction, this new leader sends a strong message to the world of wine. In fact, this Rhône Valley wine knocked the world-famous Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) off the top spot. DRC is a reference in the world of Burgundy wines, known the world over as one of the greatest wine producers and accustomed to its place as leader of the pack. In fact, this star of the Côte de Nuits wine region accounts for over 75 per cent of the list, along with the Bordeaux estate Petrus. This preeminence at the top of the ranking is explained by a very strong demand and low production volumes from these legendary estates. For the record though, tracking the most expensive wine of all time is surprisingly difficult. For example, the most expensive standard (750 ml) bottle of wine sold at auction is the Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1869. A Sotheby’s auction in 2010 raked in US$690,000 for three bottles of this vintage, sold as a single lot. For just one bottle of wine, another Chateau Lafite, (this time the 1767, before Baron Rothschild acquired it), is credited with holding the sales record. It was thought to have been part of Thomas Jefferson’s collection. Malcolm Forbes purchased it in 1985 for US$156,000 and it has been consumed by controversy since then, with its authenticity questioned till today.

Warren Porter is President of Iron Gate – Private Wine Management, a storage

and wine collector services provider based in Toronto, Canada. In addition, Iron

Gate – Private Wine Management provides home cellar management and

monitoring systems, professional buying and US and international selling

services for collectors in Canada since 2004.

Iron Gate – Private Wine Management 51 Laird Drive, Toronto, Ontario M4G 3T4 T: 416-234-9500 | |

.

Iron Gate is

now an official

partner of

CANADIAN

OPERA

COMPANY

Iron Gate is proud

to announce that we

have become the

official partner for

the upcoming 18th

Annual Canadian

Opera Company’s

wine auction.

Led by Stephen

Ranger, Toronto’s

most respected

auctioneer, the

auction takes place

on THURSDAY,

APRIL 6, 2017 at

Four Seasons

Centre for the

Performing Arts.

All proceeds

support the

Canadian Opera

Company’s

Education and

Outreach program.

http://www.coc.ca

Documents

Classic Bordeaux at Zachys....The VinGardeValise is a wine suitcase that would provide you with a functional, stylish, sturdy, and durable piece of wine luggage that you will travel