STYLE Edit: Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau’s world famous wine collection up for auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong – with 110 vintage bottles worth more than US$3 million
A connoisseur of pop art painter David Hockney, gemstones and wine, Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau is selling a prized portion of his spectacular lifetime collection in 1 of 3 fine wines auctions at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in early October – with online and advance bids welcome from increasingly keen millennials buyers and collectors
Introducing its Autumn Wine Sale series, the prestigious auction house Sotheby’s will present Hong Kong with a series of three special series: “Wines from the Cellar of Joseph Lau” and “The Five-Star Cellar: Iconic Wines of Impeccable Provenance” on October 3, and the season’s “Finest and Rarest Wines and Spirits” collection on October 4.
“Wines from the Cellar of Joseph Lau” comprises over 110 lots to be auctioned on October 3, estimated to be worth in excess of US$3.3 million.
Joseph Lau Luen-hung, the Hong Kong property tycoon ranked 59th in Forbes’ Billionaires 2020 list, with an estimated net worth of US$16.4 billion, is known for his investments in wine, art and gemstones.
In February this year, Lau sold David Hockney’s The Splash at Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in London for £23.1 million (US$29.4 million), the third-highest price ever achieved at auction for a piece by the British pop art painter. In November 2015, the real estate mogul bought a 12-carat blue diamond for US$49 million, also at a Sotheby’s auction, breaking the world record for any gemstone sold at auction.
And so too, in the realm of fine wine, Lau has maintained his reputation as a discriminating collector. According to Patti Wong, chairman at Sotheby’s Asia, “Mr Lau has amassed one of the world’s most spectacular wine collections over the past decades.”
The Sotheby’s lots are only “a small part” of Lau’s wine collection, according to the 69-year-old tycoon himself but, even still, Lau has spent over 38 years collecting these wines – and many are presently in their drinking window.
