I follow German wine auction prices pretty closely. Other than Egon and Keller I can’t recall a German wine that went far above estimates. Not saying it did not happen just curious for other examples.
Good afternoon Robert,
In my post I was just saying that I think there will be some serious estimate-busting in this particular sale.
Looking back, even at some of the higher end offerings in past auctions, I do not recall a sale where many lots topped estimates- even at the high end. I have purchased Muller stickies at auction on a couple of occasions- and always at or near low estimate.
Pretty exciting. The estimates strike me as on the high side but I suppose that there is so little of much of this that it only takes two bidders who really want it to send prices into the stratosphere. I’m definitely going to attend.
Outside of the big names, there also is a fair amount of stuff from what most would consider second-tier producers like F. Weins Prum, von Hovel, etc. Not saying they’re bad, but they aren’t JJ, Egon, or Haag and the like. What will be the interest level in these wines? And qualitatively I wonder how far off the top tier are they?
the issue is not the tier quality but the rarity of these wines. It is SO hard to find aged german wine.
i think because of the relative low price it gets them off the shelves. It would be worth having some of these just because they don’t ever show up in quantity like this
Lots seem to be going for around the low estimate so far, though I thought the estimates high and they haven’t gotten to the Weist wines yet.
I admit it, I broke down and placed a pre auction bid. As Rob said, you just never see some of those wines.
I love German wines and Rudi Wiest producers, but will not be bidding on anything because it is at Acker
That was my first reaction. But then I decided it couldn’t hurt to just look and see what they were. And before I knew it I had placed 2 bids.
I got a nice deal on some older Pichon, but lost the war for 1949 Figeac. The German goodies coming soon- and I am expecting amazing results at this point.
So far results are interesting. Prum predictably doing well but secondary producers aren’t getting much traction.
Can you please not post any more photos of Kapon. Makes my skin crawl to look at him.
Looks like the 2001 Fritz Haag lots, which were so attractive, went for lower end prices. Whoever got those is in for a treat. If it was anywhere but Acker, …
It is stunning to me how inexpensive German wines are. Simply stunning.
The auction software is simply HORRIBLE.
Whoever wrote that crap needs to go back to kindergarten.
The 2001 auction spatlese mags went for about 3x the high estimate.
I too am very surprised at some of the low prices. There were some well aged (i.e. great provenance) , VDP auction bottles from great vineyards selling below the minimum estimates. Regardless of estimates, below $50ish on such bottles is pretty telling.
While 2001 was a great vintage for the most part, it was not particularly spectacular at several houses- including Haag, Schaefer and Diel. I suspect that is part of why the non-auction lots did not do better. Haag auction wines are incredibly rare except for the 2002s which seem to have existed in unusually large numbers and have traded frequently (and which are lackluster in my experience if at least very good), Haag auction wines fetch a good premium when sold in the right venue.
I just finished my preliminary analysis of the sale (reporting about it only because this was a sale of historic importance in the context of the US secondary market for German wine), and while the results are good- I was quite wrong in my prediction that a number of the lots from esteemed producers not often seen- notably Schloss Lieser, Weil and Gunderloch- did not go as high as I had anticipated.
218 lots with 23 lots, or 10.6% unsold. Above the general going rate these days for an auction overall (upper single digits), but considering the limited audience in general- and in specific for some of the producers- I interpret this as a strongly positive outcome. If there is a pattern to the unsold lots- they tended to be from the less collected producers and also lots with large numbers of bottles from vintages that are at or passing peak. It is hard to know what to do with 12 bottles of BA from 1976 at this date IMHO and a number of lots had significant quantities of fully aged wine where in Bordeaux or Burgundy that is more commonly singles or a handful of bottles. If some of these giant older lots are broken up and put into silent auction cycles, they should fare much better.
The vast majority of lots sold for reserve or 1-3 increments above, which is the norm for most other auction offerings save wineries that are hot at any given moment. And a few breakouts above estimate- mostly in the VDP Auction bottles which have a limited secondary resale history and which I think had low estimates as a result. Given the population of bottles for sale, I interpret this as a generally good result with strong interest. Still a small market of buyers, but when the rare Auction lots came along or certain old bottles- things got interesting pretty fast. Note that while this was a great sale, a number of very famous things were missing. If there had been any 1999 Muller Spatlese Auction- I would have paid any price for it. And if there had been any 1994 Fritz Haag TBA Auction, that would have gone for a king’s ransom I suspect.
All in all I would say a solid result and yet another indicator that Germany is again on the rise as a serious collectible- but at the very top levels none of those headline grabbing moments that can instantly set a given winery on fire in the eyes of the investor/collector.
Missed that one skimming. That was a very special lot.
What a weird experience. It was very hard to choose from so much wine and honestly it was a mixed lot despite the sheer amount of wine. I went with a strategy of trying to be very selective but bid very strong with absentee bids. It seemed that there was someone out there that just wanted everything I bid on and would not stop until they won. I was the under bidder on the 01 Mags…If anyone bought those and wants to share I am a buyer.
It is probably a good thing I was not in the room.
Zilliken did well too. The one producer where I put in multiple above lower est bids and didn’t win any (thought I had the 01 auction spats but I guess someone else bid the same…disadvantage of absentee).
I think rieslingfeier is going to be a lot of fun this year!