Asian thirst fuels HK wine boom

The euro-zone sovereign debt crisis may have slashed the value of the Hang Seng Index by a quarter in the past two months, but the investment climate seems to have had little effect on high-end wine sales in the city.

Over the weekend, Sotheby's wine auction sold 95 per cent of all lots and achieved sales of HK$99.1 million, 14.6 per cent more than the estimate for a range of high-end Bordeaux wine, including Krug champagne and some bottles of Chateau Lafite.

Robert Sleigh, head of Sotheby's Asia wine department, told White Collar that Hong Kong's position as a wine auction hub was well established, with higher bids than in London and New York, two other major wine auction centres.

In the first half of this year Sotheby's has held four wine auctions in Hong Kong, drawing HK$250 million and representing 60 per cent of the auctioneer's global sales. Despite all the worries about Europe's debt crisis and the economic malaise in America, Sotheby's international wine sales in the first six months surged by 49 per cent to HK$414 million from a year ago.

Since its first wine sales in Hong Kong in April 2009, the auctioneer has sold 10,964 lots in 17 auctions.

Last year, Sotheby's sold HK$410.42 million worth of wine in the city - 60 per cent of its total wine sales. The firm sold HK$163.6 million of wine in London and HK$114.49 million in New York.