Asian grapevine

No other auction has been as successful over the past six months as the one held by Christie's last weekend. What Christie's had in its favour this time, despite the sombre global financial mood, was timing. The timing was perfect for an ex-domaine sale of wines from the cellars of legendary Burgundy wine maestro Henri Jayer. He was more than just a talented winemaker or vigneron; in Japan, he is a wine god immortalised in the popular manga, Les Gouttes de Dieu (The Drops of God). In Burgundy, he was indisputably one of the most influential wine growers influencing an entire generation of young talent from a very small base - only 6.3 hectares of vineyards around Vosnes-Romanee.

In the private rooms of Hong Kong's fine dining venues where wine connoisseurs often gather, it isn't DRC (Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) that most often draws superlatives but Jayer. Bringing a first-growth Bordeaux these days is almost considered gauche and DRC just a bit too obvious. While Bordeaux prices have been on a continual downward spiral since early last year, Burgundy has been growing steadily. Sales of DRC have been the most noticeable beneficiary of this trend, but other top Burgundy domaines are doing well. These include Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue, Domaine Leroy, Domaine Meo-Camuzet, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Emmanuel Rouget (Jayer's nephew), Domaine Ponsot, Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Raveneau.

The other reason the Jayer sale was so successful was that the wines had impeccable provenance. Consider the two other successful sales over the past 18 months - the ex-cellar Lafite sale in October 2010 and the ex-cellar Latour sale in May. Given concerns over provenance and authenticity, it is worth the premium to pay extra for genuine products.

Jayer died in 2006, and this is probably the only time we will ever see so many of his wines sold directly from his own cellar. There have been many Jayer wines offered at auction, and one fine wine importer confided: 'Jayer is probably one of the most widely faked wines, and I would never consider buying a Jayer at auction, except for this previous one, where we know all the wines come from the great man's cellar.'

Christie's has a knack for timing: its ex-cellar sale of Chateau Lafite Rothschild was at the peak of the 'Bordeaux fever' in October 2010, and this Jayer sale is in the midst of a growing love affair with Burgundy.

For Bordeaux, price adjustment is hitting the top wines fairly hard. Since early last year, Lafite prices have been slowly deteriorating. It is still clearly in the lead, far ahead of its peers, but wines such as Chateau Latour and Chateau Margaux are closing the gap. The value of the 2008 vintage, with the Chinese character for the lucky number eight written on the bottle, dropped by nearly half over the past year. At its peak, it was fetching US$2,000 per bottle but it can now be bought for about US$1,000.