Fine wines of France pair off with great French art at New York auctions

Christie's is holding a pair of France-themed auctions with Petrus, Lafite and DRC fine wines offered

Christie's is having a somewhat unusual pairing of auctions this week, pairing two areas of collecting which are particularly connected with France: fine wines and art.

We've already detailed some of the art on offer: there is an incredibly rare artwork by Hans Memling on offer showing what might be considered the controversial image of the Christ child being breast-fed and an Arcimbolo work showing a fruit bowl which inverts to present a man's face.

But it's now time to take a look at the other auction:  the Finest and Rarest Wines of France on January 25.

Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Champagne are all well-represented across the 158 lots of wine.

Robin Kelley O'Connor, Head of Wines for the Americas at Christie's, commented:

"We are honoured to co-host this salute to France with our Old Master Paintings team. In each of our respective categories, these French classics have been experiencing a surge of interest as they continue to delight both established and new generations of collectors from around the world.

"Among the great winemaking countries, none is so closely associated with the art of creating 'bottled poetry' as France. Coming off a record-setting year of wine sales at Christie's, we are pleased to offer collectors from Asia, Europe and the Americas a chance to add these rare 'Old Masters' to their wine collections."

Highlights from Château Pétrus appear in lots 13 through 26, with a total estimated value of $301,000-$419,000, and it will be interesting to see how they do fair against their estimates as Chateau Petrus increasingly appears to be the wine to watch with increasing global interest.

Château Lafite-Rothschild 1982 - the five-star vintage will naturally have high hopes attached to it too. A vintage 1990 assortment of DRC Burgundy wines will too, with a $32,000-40,000 listing. The fine wines of France auction takes place in New York.

Recent and related articles

· Sotheby's Bordeaux fine wine auction 'puts vintages to the test' in London | 9 January 2012

· Fine wine collectors turn to rare 'Bordeaux Second Growths' and Burgundy | 28 December 2011

· Our Top Five Fine Wine sales from late 2011 - DRC, Lafite, Champagne and more | 21 December 2011

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Images: Christie's