Christie's is closing its South Kensington wine department

[Andy Velebil]

Christie's is closing its South Kensington wine department at the end of the week.

According to David Elswood, head of Christie's International Wine Department, at the end of this week the auction house will be announce a restructuring of its London wine department, including the closing of the South Kensington wine branch after over 30 years.

Elswood said Christie's new strategy will focus on the Asian market where financial pressures aren't as profoundly felt as the rest of the world.
'European wine sales were up 10% year on year in 2008, but the forecast is uncertain,' he said.

[Roy Hersh]

Another one bites the dust.

[Eric Ifune]

I know of some great cellars which are going to auction in Hong Kong.
I guess you gotta go where the action is.

[Andy Velebil]

eric,
Do you know how easy or hard it is to import from HK? With the exchange rate and shipping, I'm sure it isn't worth it. I was just curious.

[Roy Hersh]

I know of some great cellars which are going to auction in Hong Kong.
I guess you gotta go where the action is.

Or ... where the auction is.

[Eric Ifune]

I believe Hong Kong reduced the duties on wine this past year. It used to be prohibitive but is now competitive. That's why all the big auctions houses have started or are planning wine auctions there.

[Derek T.]

Christie's is closing its South Kensington wine department at the end of the week.

I understand that Alex B. and Uncle Tom have been taken into a re-hab clinic suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following this tragic news :help: :devil:

[Tom Archer]

Christies had a sale in HK in November - top claret (more than half of it Latour) and no port - the results were crazily high, as the buyers will doubtless come to realise!

But is everyone rushing to sell their cellars there? The next sale is not scheduled until May..

One swallow doesn't make a summer, and there was never any logic in Christies having two London wine departments..

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

But is everyone rushing to sell their cellars there? The next sale is not scheduled until May..


Tom

In one word...YES! HK is right now the last frontier, so to speak, where buyers are still paying top dollar. How long this will last, I have no idea as I am not that up on their current economy or buying habits. Other than knowing they are not fond of sweet dessert wines, at least yet, so that bodes well for us.

[Tom Archer]

Other than knowing they are not fond of sweet dessert wines, at least yet, so that bodes well for us.

Nor claret, as it happens. When I looked into this a year or so back, during a business visit to the people's republic, I concluded that the Chinese are very intolerant of tannins.

If, on the strength of a single set of saleroom results, people with first growths to sell think they can make megabucks selling in HK, then they have to be completely divorced from the real world.

From time to time at auction, a couple of buyers with deep pockets, but little restraint, ramp prices to stupid levels.

In the cold grey light, when they have to settle their accounts, they realise their folly, and skulk away.

Auctions can sometimes become casino-like, with the desire to win overcoming normal rational restraint. If more than one buyer gets carried away, prices can go skyward, while others smirk in disbelief - it happens in every saleroom from time to time.

If anyone thinks the Chinese are stupid enough to regularly pay over the odds, then they are the bigger fool.

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

From what I've been told and have read, it is more of a status symbol in HK to have these "Trophy" wines and either give them away or open them at dinner, even if no one is a wine drinker. I've also heard they tend to mix a lot of wine, even high end stuff, with coke. If that is true, what a waste.

[Derek T.]

I've also heard they tend to mix a lot of wine, even high end stuff, with coke. If that is true, what a waste.

That depends on which type of coke you're talking about :devil:

[Andy Velebil]

I've also heard they tend to mix a lot of wine, even high end stuff, with coke. If that is true, what a waste.

That depends on which type of coke you're talking about :devil:

The liquid kinda

[Eric Ifune]

[quote][From what I've been told and have read, it is more of a status symbol in HK to have these "Trophy" wines and either give them away or open them at dinner, even if no one is a wine drinker. I've also heard they tend to mix a lot of wine, even high end stuff, with coke. If that is true, what a waste./quote]

I think this is overstated quite a bit. There may be some mixing of high end wine in HK, but there is probably also some done in the States and Europe as well. There are some world class collectors in Asia who definitely know their stuff. The average person might see trophy wines as status symbols only, but wine knowledge is increasing at an expoential rate among the rising middle class.