A selection of wines from the Roy Welland collection achieved $6.6m in a sale at Wally's Auctions in New York on September 12-13.
It's the first in a series of sale that will see Welland's huge 100,000 bottle collection auctioned off this autumn. The sale featured 1,767 wines including rare burgundies, piedmont and champagne varieties.
 Welland is one of the world's most prolific wine collectors |
Burgundies proved the highlight, with 55 bottles of Domaine Bachelet realising $216,480 against an estimate of $162,850 (an increase of 32.9%).
Wally's Auctions' president and CEO, Michael Jessen, commented prior to the sale: "Burgundy alone comprises two-thirds of the 100,000 bottles on offer and the majority of those wines were bought on release and unmoved... until now.
"That said, the depth and breadth of the cellar is unmatched. Roy's tastes are very broad and every important wine region is well represented."
Former restaurateur Welland started his collection in the 1980s, building it up gradually over the following decades.
He told Bloomberg in a recent interview: "I'm going to be sad to see a lot of it go. I didn't so much buy wine as an investment."
A DRC superlot valued at $1.5m-2.5m is primed to set a new world record at Sotheby's Hong Kong on October 4.
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