Elin McCoy

‘New York’s auction scene is more innovative than anywhere else’

The defining momenT for new York’s impressive rebound to the world’s top wine auction city? 17 october 2015, the date of Sotheby’s sale of bottles direct from Château margaux’s cellars, with vintages from 1900 to 2010. Prices were double the high estimates.

for the previous five years, auction houses had targeted hong Kong for similar firstgrowth collections, knowing that enthusiastic rich-list Asians would pay the most. That’s changed. Last year the US accounted for more than 56% of global turnover. Sotheby’s announced in its Wine Ranking for 2015 released at the end of february that its new York auction sales were up 60%.

one reason for the uptick is financial. The US economy has emerged from the doldrums, while unease grows about the Chinese market. Confident American buyers are again out in force. Recent auctions i’ve attended have been packed. But there’s more to it than that.

one early sign of new York’s renaissance, back in 2013, was the splashy entry of new auction player Wally’s (an outpost of the Los Angeles retail store). That brought the number of auction houses holding wine sales in new York to six, more than any other city. Add in US collectors’ increased jitters about provenance, thanks to the conviction of fraudster Rudy Kurniawan and continuing reports of fakes in China. Just about every auction director has told me that Asian buyers will bid in new York, but US collectors won’t buy in hong Kong. There’s just less comfort.

here’s what else helped tip the game: US demand for a range of Burgundies (not just domaine de la RomanéeConti and henri Jayer), new South American collectors who feel more at home in new York and, most of all, the fact that its auction scene is more innovative than anywhere else – despite the US’s convoluted state-bystate wine sale laws.

The city’s first sales were in 1994, decades after London houses started the game and captured the world’s wine collectors. But Zachys, a retailer based in Westchester County, new York, rewrote the rules in 2002 by making its auctions social events, on the theory that if you’re having fun, you’ll bid big. its innovative inaugural sale, over lunch at Restaurant daniel, drew a new crowd happy to bid over haute cuisine instead of in a sterile room with uncomfortable chairs. Retailer Acker merrall quickly copied the formula, as has Wally’s.

in the past few years, auction houses have stepped up innovations to create excitement. for example, they introduced bidding live online in real time – 52% of the margaux lots went to online bidders. Almost all of them host regular eAuctions. in 2015, Zachys not only pulled in $6.4 million in online-only auctions – an imaginative Thanksgiving weekend sale drew feverish bidding – but also introduced the five-hour flash Auction. in its inaugural november sale, nine lots of dRC soon sold out at way over the high estimates.

Tying sales to annual wine events like popular Burgundy bash La Paulée (Zachys is the pioneer at this) has also generated real in-room buzz from captive audiences of dedicated collectors. The latest was Wally’s november sale of great Champagne during the second annual La fête du Champagne, a several-day fest of tastings and dinners. dozens of lots of older vintages of grower Champagnes drew a new, younger crowd to Restaurant daniel; they were rewarded with plenty of drama, like the sight of chef daniel Boulud sabering a magnum of Vincent Bérèche’s Crus Selectionnés 1999 with a Christofle sabre. naturally, prices skyrocketed. But nothing is simple. it looks like Wally’s may be bowing out of the auction business.

And how has 2016 been for new York so far? in february, Sotheby’s broadened the direct-from-the-winery concept to italy, with rare vintages from ornellaia. (Always cautious, it’s holding similar auctions in London and hong Kong.) for may, it snagged 20,000 bottles from billionaire Bill Koch’s cellar. Acker continues to bang the Burgundy drum in hong Kong and new York. Zachys held its first Riesling-only eAuction as part of the annual Rieslingfeier event. my guess is that online-only auctions are the future.