Sotheby's is set to auction the legendary fine wine collection of Lloyd Flatt on March 10.

Among wine collectors, Flatt was from the old-school. His era was a time when collectors drank their wines, before the days of wine funds, Bordeaux Indexes and fine wines' status as a better investment than stocks.

Château Lafite Rothschild vintages will feature in the sale

For this reason, much excitement will ensue when the Sotheby's sale kicks off next month.

It will feature 1,500 bottles from Flatt's cellar, with proceeds expected to reach $600,000.

According to the wines blogosphere, highlights in the auction will include large format bottles, like a Jeroboam of 1959 Lafite Rothschild expected to command as much as $30,000.

Lloyd Flatt, a Tennessee-born aerospace consultant, began his collection in the 1960s after a visit to London.

He was remembered for many things: his Southern twang and eye-patch, walking around the garden in his pyjamas, and always being generous when sharing his expensive wine among friends and even strangers.

Whether the attending collectors and investors at Sotheby's maintain Flatt's ethos - that what is inside the bottle is more important than the price - remains to be seen.

Flatt would perhaps be heartened to know that in Asia, whose buyers have increasingly participated in recent Sotheby's sales, drinking expensive wines in a mark of prestige.

One person who agrees with his ethos is Serena Sutcliffe (MW), Worldwide Head of Wine at Sotheby's.

As she told Paul Fraser Collectibles, last month: "The real value of wine in when you pull the cork!"