A Belgian billionaire is planning to sell more of his private wine cellar, expecting to raise up to $1.6m according to Bloomberg.

Over 3,000 bottles of Bordeaux and Champagne will be up for sale on September 23 at Sotheby's in London, form the cellar of Belgian billionaire Albert Frere.

The sales is being held to benefit the Charles-Albert Frere Foundation, which supports children in difficulty and disadvantaged adults.

The charity is named after Frere's son, who died in a car crash 10 years ago.

"Frere buys straight from the chateaux and stores his wines in the cellar of his home in Belgium," said James Reed, a director in Sotheby's London wine department, in an interview.

"His contacts in the wine trade are second to none and his stocks of great wine don't seem to have a bottom."

Frere is one of Belgium's richest men with a net worth of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes in its 2009 list of the world's billionaires.

His wine auctions in 2003 and 2006 raised £822,634 and £1.8m respectively for his charity. Frere also co-owns the Chateau Cheval Blanc vineyard in Bordeaux

This latest charity auction will contain vintages ranging from 1985 to 2005.

A lot containing two magnums each from the highly rated 2000 vintages of chateaux Petrus, Haut Brion, Margaux and Latour has an estimated value of £13,000.

Twelve-bottle cases of 1986 Chateau Lafite are expected to bring £7,000, while Dom Perignon's 1996 vintage champagne has been estimated at £550-650 for a six-bottle case.

Frere and his family control the publicly traded investment company Cie. Nationale a Portefeuille, with interests in the media, utilities and oil industries.

Collectibles sales by the world's wealthy have been helping charities and bringing rare items to auction.

Art from the collection of the late designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge raised €342.5m in February by Christie's International to benefit HIV charities; a second sale, also in Paris, may fetch €4m on November 17-19.


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