Wine and spirits auction sales exceeded $118 million at Sotheby’s Wines, up 20 percent over the last year and a record high, revealing a healthy appetite among investors.

 “The electricity in the auction room was palpable,” he said. “There were cheers when the hammer fell on The Macallan Fine and Rare 1926, in what has to be one of the most exciting moments in the history of whisky sales.”

Record-breaking year

Burgundy and spirits gained wallet share, reaching new highs at 50 percent and 13 percent of sales, respectively.

The largest private wine collection from Transcendent Wines cost $30 million.

Sotheby's Wine was the leading worldwide in live auction and single-owner auctions.

"Single-owner collections attract greater attention from collectors who are willing to pay a premium for provenance and Sotheby’s held a number of important, high-profile single-owner sales this year," said Yassmin Dever, associate wine advisor for Sotheby’s Wine, New York.

Fine wine

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti remains the world’ leading fine wine for the seventh year in a row, bringing in $27 million in sales more than the top 10 Bordeaux producers combined.

The vineyard represents 25 percent of all wine sales, 44 percent of all Burgundy wine sales and 22 percent of all wine and spirits sales.

“We anticipate Bordeaux reclaiming market share through increases in both price and volume over the next few years, as supply of Burgundy normalizes and appreciation for the price-to-quality of Bordeaux gathers momentum,” the report revealed.

"Bordeaux is undervalued and we expect appreciation for the price-to-quality of this category to gather momentum," Ms. Dever said. "We anticipate Bordeaux will reclaim market share through increases in both price and volume over the next few years."

Champagne represented 5 percent of wine sales, up from 2 percent in 2018.

The average bottle price was up 110 percent.