Posted by admin at June 1st, 2008

By Jim Boyce

The wine auction held Saturday night in Hong Kong by Acker Merrall & Condit brought in HKD64 million (USD8.2 million), according to Bloomberg:

The top lot, 12 bottles of 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti fetched HK$1.89 million, the high end of an estimated range and an auction record for a case of Romanée-Conti…. The item is one of about 900 lots Acker had expected would fetch a total of $6 million. About 92 percent of lots offered sold. Acker will return for a second auction in November to offer about 1,000 lots, President John Kapon said.

Hong Kong abolished wine duties in February and aims to become a wine hub. Kapon is quoted as saying that Chinese buyers won “about 30 percent of the top 20 lots.”