by Wine Owners
Posted on 2019-04-24
Sotheby’s had announced it would auction 75 limited edition Versailles Celebration Cases which house 5 vintages of Chateau Mouton Rothschild to be given towards the restoration of the Palace of Versailles. Each beautifully crafted case honours the rich cultural history of the domain and the Palace of Versailles.
However, as a result of the terrible fire at Notre Dame on 15 April, 2019, yesterday Château Mouton Rothschild and the Palace of Versailles jointly announced that the sale proceeds of the 25 cases sold in London for in excess of £750,000 would be donated to efforts to rebuild Notre-Dame cathedral.
The cases offered in London realised £752,620 / US$983,148 / HK$7.7 million, bringing the combined total for the 50 cases sold in London and Hong Kong to £1.4 million / US$1.9 million / HK$14.8 million.
Proceeds from the final tranche of 25 cases to be offered by Sotheby’s in New York on 4 May will still go towards funding restoration projects at Versailles, as will funds raised from the first tranche of 25 cases sold by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on 1 April.
Each case presents five Château Mouton Rothschild vintages with labels by outstanding contemporary artists who have also exhibited at the Palace of Versailles:
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Château Mouton Rothschild 2005 - Giuseppe Penone: Palace of Versailles, 2013
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Château Mouton Rothschild 2007 - Bernar Venet: Palace of Versailles, 2011
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Château Mouton Rothschild 2009 - Anish Kapoor : Palace of Versailles, 2015
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Château Mouton Rothschild 2010 - Jeff Koons: Palace of Versailles, 2008-9
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Château Mouton Rothschild 2013 - Lee Ufan: Palace of Versailles, 2014
The cases offered across a trio of international auctions at Sotheby’s throughout the Spring 2019, begun in Hong Kong on 1 April, followed by London on 17 April and concluding in New York on 4 May. Successful bidders will also receive an invitation for them and a guest to attend a private visit and tasting at Château Mouton Rothschild and an exclusive event, the Versailles Celebration Gala Dinner, at the Palace of Versailles on 21 September 2019, during which historic ex-cellar vintages will be served including Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 - one of the great vintages of the last century.
For a full list of the artists and labels visit: https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/label-art/discover- the-artwork
www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com | Instagram: @moutonnechange
www.chateauversailles.fr | Instagram: @chateauversailles
by Wine Owners
Posted on 2012-03-05
Decanter reported this week that an alleged wine fraudster, Rudy Kurniawan, has been arrested in the USA after indefatigable efforts by Laurent Ponsot of the great, eponymous Burgundy estate.
Ponsot's efforts were aided by European sommeliers who were able to confirm the names of people who had approached them, and paid for, empty wine bottles. The idea that trade in illicit fine wine is abetted by professionals whose careers are often driven out of personal passion was an initial shock. It's all too easy of course, offering bribes to relatively poorly paid restaurant workers in the knowledge that the cost of acquiring empty bottles and carefully drawn corks to be reused and resealed is a bagatelle compared to the returns at auction of increasingly rare, ageing wine stocks.The problem is significant enough for Ponsot to assert that 80% of pre 1980 Burgundy sold at auction is counterfeit.I do hope not, as I think back to an Averys bottling of 1934 Amoureuses that was particularly ethereal, combining sweetness, silkiness and surprising intensity of flavour. But then, that's hardly the sort of bottling that your average global fine wine fraudster would select for maximising returns. In a world driven by brand, elite producer names are the inevitable target.
And whatever the percentage, there's no doubt that the risks of coming across fake wine is increasing, making it more important than ever to insist on photography for great names pre-2000, inspection, and where provenance is not impeccable, to either pass or recognise the risk that you may be running.
There are some precautions that stop well short of being foolproof. Look for capsule tampering, capsules and labels that look too clean and unusually high fill levels. Once the bottle has been opened, check for incorrect vintage stamps, unusual depth of colour, an unexpectedly young taste or a wine that hasn't thrown any kind of sediment. However, this cannot be the answer.
A new system of provenance is surely needed, where older stocks can be traced back, at least some of the way, through transfer of title, movements, location and inspections.
Traceability and reliability of source will increasingly justify much higher prices for the best stock, and lead to a greater disparity of value between two bottles of the same wine. We are already seeing the gap widening between direct from producer, ex cellars or chateau older wines, and secondary market sources whose history is opaque. It is well worth the investment in time and good discrimination to buy secondary market stock with good provenance. Education on informed buying is urgently needed.
