In the sumptuous surroundings of New York's great Marea restaurant, Acker, Merrall and Condit presented their first auction in the capital this year on March 3.
Similar to their Icemen Cometh sale in January, the auction was a near miss for white glove status with a toast-worthy 98% of the one thousand lots on offer sold, bringing $3.77m. This was 26% more than estimated, reflecting relentless bidding both on the floor and through technology.
The auction set records which reflected almost everywhere in the world with a serious vineyard: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chablis, Champagne, Hungary, Piedmont, Rhone, Spain and Tuscany all had a look-in for the list of 67 world records.
John Kapon, Acker Merrall's CEO commented, "The rare wine market is always fascinating, but rarely more so than it is right now. While Burgundy remains the hottest segment of the market, there is intense interest in the great variety of wine the world has to offer, and no group is more aware of that than our New York clientele.
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"Frankly, there isn't a single one of the world's great wine-producing regions that isn't of interest to wine lovers right now. The across the board records we set today are proof of that statement. Consequently, there's great vitality in the market and, as always, Acker Merrall is leading the way."
(We recently had the privilege of talking to John Kapon about Acker and the state of the wine markets. Click to find out more.)
Burgundy and Champagne presented the most striking sales: a rare Jeroboam of the famous Romanee Conti vintage 1999 brought $73,200 whilst a vast 120-bottle super-lot of 1996 Salon Le Mesnil Champagne made $39,040 and a 120-bottle lot of 1996 Krug Vintage Champagne achieved $34,140.
