It’s very much a cellar’s market when it comes to vintage wines and spirits
WHAT’S gathering dust in your cellar – or that old drinks cabinet for that matter? I ask because fine wine, whisky and other spirits are a booming auction market – so much so Hansons is hosting Derbyshire and Staffordshire Cellar Auctions this autumn.
You just might be popping a cork to toast sales success in the run-up to Christmas, and a man who can tell you if it’s time to celebrate is Hansons’ new wine and whisky consultant Benjamin Browning.
On Tuesday, October 6 he will be offering free valuations at Etwall Auction Centre, near Derby, from 10am-12.30pm, and Bishton Hall in Staffordshire from 2-5pm.
Benjamin started reading about wine at school rather than studying for his O-levels. He found Hugh Johnson’s Wine Atlas of the World more interesting than Shakespeare.
He has continued learning about wine ever since and travelled far and wide to gain knowledge including Tokaji in Hungary and Mostar in Yugoslavia.
He looks forward to seeing what people have tucked away - often not realising the potential value they have. His particular favourites are PX sherry and big Italian reds.
He likes to try new wine regions not widely known and his celebration drink of choice is champagne - the original and best.
Benjamin can tell you if that bottle of whisky, fine port or case of red could get bids flying in, and it’s worth delving into your cupboards because auction prices for whisky in particular have reached unimaginable highs.
In 2019, a bottle The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926 whisky sold for $1.9 million - around £1.5 million. This smashed auction records. The
Macallan Fine & Rare bottle (42.6% ABV) was offered for auction by a private American collector with a guide price of £350,000-£450,000.
The bottle was the first to appear from the Fine and Rare series in more than a decade. A previous world record for the most expensive whisky was set by the only bottle of the 1926 The Macallan featuring a handpainted design by Irish artist Michael Dillon. The bottle went under the hammer at Christie’s in London and sold for £1.2m.
The Macallan is one of the most highly revered whisky brands in the world. It is the third largest selling single malt whisky globally and the second largest by value.
Its distillery in Craigellachie, Moray, in the Highlands of Scotland, was founded in 1824 by Alexander Reid and it’s renowned for quality. Whisky is matured in exceptional oak casks as drink quality largely dependent on cask quality.
Rarity also enhances desirability and price. Distilled in 1926, the highly-coveted bottle came from cask number 263. Of the 40 bottles drawn from the cask, only 14 were given the Fine and Rare Label. In another stroke of The Macallan genius, it commissioned two leading pop artists, Valerio Adami and Peter Blake, to design labels for 24 bottles.
A bottle of The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 60-year-old Scotch whisky previously held the world record for most expensive whisky, selling at auction for £848,750.
In 2018 Hansons sold a special addition bottle of The Macallan whisky bottled in 1996 to mark the 35th anniversary of the famous satirical magazine Private Eye.
The vatting produced 5,000 bottles and included one cask from 1961. This special edition featured a screen-printed label by legendary illustrator Ralph Steadman. It sold for £3,100.
Hansons has also sold a bottle of The Macallan 18-year-old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, distilled in 1966, for £2,200, and a Macallan Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, 10 years old for £380.
But it’s not all about whisky. Five Hennessy bottles of Cognac made £480; a bottle of vintage Tanqueray gin made £290 and a wine lot featuring Chateau Canon, St Emilion 1967, Chateau Latour a Pomerol 1959 and Clets des Legats, Chateau neuf du Pape 1991 was contested to £430.
Port is popular, too. We’ve sold a case of Dow’s 1980 port for £640 and nine bottles of mixed vintage Port reached £450. Plus, in 2017 two bottles of vintage port dating back to 1871 sold for £370 and £400 respectively. Their original estimate was £70-£100 per bottle.
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Hansons is inviting entries until October 31 for its Derbyshire Cellar Wine and Whisky Auction on November 17. Regular Staffordshire Cellar Auctions are also held at Bishton Hall, the next one being on October 14.
Consultant wine and whisky valuer Benjamin Browning will be at Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, on October 6, November 3 and December 8, 10am-12.30pm.
On the same dates he will be at Bishton Hall, Wolseley Bridge, Staffs, ST17 0XN, 2-5pm. Plus, on Wednesday, September 30, 10am-3pm, Hansons will be offering free valuations at an Antiques Discovery Day at Barton Marina, Barton Turns, Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire, DE13 8DZ. No appointment necessary.
To arrange a home visit or virtual valuation, please email service@ hansonsauctioneers.co.uk.