Hong Kong still tops wine auction sales

Hong Kong is set to top wine auction sales again this year - a global crown it earned thanks to the reduction of the excise duty to zero in 2008. By the end of last month, the city had held 21 major events, raising a combined US$130.3 million this year. That figure excludes online auctions, and is well ahead of those achieved by rivals New York (US$56.1 million) and London (US$29.3 million).

San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, the Hamptons, Paris, Geneva and Amsterdam have also hosted important - although smaller - wine sales this year. That's in addition to the charity auction for the Hospices de Beaune, a candlelit affair held each November in Burgundy, which this year raised more than US$7.5 million for charity in a sale orchestrated by London-based Christie's. No doubt the glamour of guest auctioneer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, France's former first lady, helped raise that total.

So far this year two US-based auction houses have raised the most revenue in Hong Kong: Acker Merrall & Condit, at US$39.3 million, closely followed by Zachys. Just behind is Britain's Christie's, with New York-based Sotheby's a more distant fourth. British firm Bonhams also held an auction at Pacific Place last month. The top four are believed to generate some two-thirds of their wine revenues in Hong Kong.

The city has become so attractive as a wine auction centre that chef Ferran Adria has chosen to sell the 8,807 bottle cellar from the now-defunct El Bulli restaurant here and in New York.

(They will be auctioned by Sotheby's on April 3 in Hong Kong and April 26 in New York.)

"Hong Kong remains, by far, the largest fine and rare wine auction market as we end 2012. The reason is it's home to many of the most sophisticated and knowledgeable wine collectors in the world," says John Kapon, Acker's CEO.