Fine & Rare wine including two private collections are open for opportunity to all collectors and investors of rare wine. Beginning January 14 and lasting for 14 days, Christies will offer 486 different lots of wine. Some of the greatest wines you can buy will be featured in this event.

Christie’s noted key names such as Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Latour, Screaming Eagle, Château Margaux, Château Mouton-Rothschild, Petrus, Château Haut-Brion, Château Palmer and too many more to easily count. It would be easy to get lost in the two key wine collections coming for bid, and it is going to make for a buyer’s dilemma over which wines are investments and which wines must be tried over a very special dinner or occasion.

While perhaps a historic novelty to some, there are wines being offered from the late 1700s all the way through the 1800s and starts of the twentieth century. Items like this simply do not come up for sale that frequently, and bottles of that age would likely see more frequent sales in Europe closer to where they were made.

Investment wine is sometimes viewed as risky because of the unknown storage conditions it might encounter. Collectors Dashboard has written about secure devices and technologies used to extract the precise amount of wine desired without spoiling or contaminating the rest of the contents or upsetting the condition of the cork. Christie’s Auction house has a world renowned wine department that has generations of expertise and a clean record of secure sales to investors with a pallet for fine wine.

According to Christie’s press release (Image below by Christie’s press release):

“Christie’s Wine Department in America is pleased to announce our first online sale based in Los Angeles, Fine & Rare Wines Including Two Outstanding Private Collections. Over 100 lots come from the superb cellar of Dr. Robert Maliner, who has bought and sold with Christie’s for more than fifty years. Of special note is his exceptional collection of Madeira, which includes many rare bottles such as 1795 Barbeito Terrantez and 1863 Blandy’s Malvasia Solera. Another 97 lots come from an expertly curated cellar, assembled by a knowledgeable collector over many years. The collection includes some fantastic rarities from some of Burgundy’s greatest Domaines, including Domaine Leroy’s 1990 Clos Vougeot and Domaine Armand Rousseau’s 1978 Chambertin. From California, we have a rare offering of every vintage of Screaming Eagle from 1993 to Present. Rounding out the sale are top-notch favorites such as Lafite, Mouton, and Petrus, and an outstanding selection of mid-century Ports and Madeiras.”

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. This means collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds. Many collectibles now cost thousands of dollars (or much more). Collectors with a passion to own a collectible for years frequently have to compete directly against investors whose only desire is to make a profit in the future.

Spending a few hundred dollars, or even a few thousand, might not seem like it is in direct competition for capital that would have otherwise gone into stocks and bonds. That said, ultimately these assets have a shelf life and will turn bad. That means they are a special collectible within consumables. We have also addressed how wine investors may start looking beyond just Port for Portugal.

There are some incredibly old wines up for grabs in this event. Whether they are for enjoyment only visually is something that buyers will have to decide (and risk) on their own. These are ancient wines as far as any wine drinker would consider. The debate over the wine labels affecting values may also come to play in this auction as well.

There are multiple bottles of Port win from Bolger and other producers in the 1800s. These generally range with estimates in a few hundred dollars on up to about $5,000 per bottle. Here are two more of the many:

• Barbeito Terrantez 1795 (1) bottle per lot with an estimate of $8,500.00 – $10,000.00.
• Tokaji Essencia 1889 (1) half liter bottle per lot with an estimate of $2,000.00 – $3,000.00.

The first online wine sale in Los Angeles for Christie’s Auction House also includes an online viewing room to browse through each item. These are just some of great wines being sold:

• Domaine Dujac, Echezeaux 1990 (1) bottle per lot with an estimate of $1,500.00 – $2,400.00.
• Salon, Le Mesnil 1982 (2) bottles per lot with an estimate of $2,000.00 – $3,000.00.
• Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2000 (12) bottles per lot with an estimate of $17,000.00 – $20,000.00 (this was the image in the press release).
• Petrus 2016 (3) bottles per lot with an estimate of $7,500.00 – $10,000.00.
• Domaine Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne 1994 (1) magnum 2010 (1) magnum 2015 (1) magnum 3 magnums per lot with an estimate of $550.00 – $850.00.
• Chateau Margaux 1953 (4) magnums per lot with an estimate of $18,000.00-$30,000.00.
• Screaming Eagle 1997 (3) bottles per lot with an estimate of $10,000.00-$15,000.00.
• Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Michel Couvreur label, “Mise du Domaine Rousseau” 1962 (1) bottle per lot with an estimate of $10,000.00 – $17,000.00.
• Domaine Leroy, Clos Vougeot 1990 (10) bottles per lot with an estimate of $15,000.00-$25,000.00.