It’s easy to get lost among the amazing wines on offer: six bottles of Domaine D’Auvenay 2009 Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru; 12 bottles of Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1999 in an “assortment case” from Burgundy ’s best vineyards; a single magnum of Dom Pérignon 1966 P3 Champagne . These are just three of the gems up for grabs (with estimates up to $140,000, $95,000, and $11,000, respectively) at two upcoming auctions of wine from the renowned cellar of epicurean and art lover Pierre Chen. The first sale, to be held on June 20 in Paris, is said the first-ever single owner auction composed entirely of Champagne.
The second auction, set to occur in Beaune on July 2, features the “crème de la crème of Burgundy wines,” and is the first non-charity auction to be held in Burgundy. In a series of sales that began last November in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s is auctioning about 25,000 bottles from Chen’s collection, and the estimated total they are expected to bring in is $50 million, making this the most valuable wine collection ever to come to market. The bottles hit the block at a time that the auction market for wine is going strong: Sotheby’s wine sales hit a record total of $159 million in 2023, surpassing the previous year’s total of $158 million, and up significantly from the $58 million in sales in 2013.
“The significance of a single owner collection like Mr. Chen’s, where provenance is so important and assured, reminds the market of the long-standi.
