My anecdotal evidence regarding supply in auctions - supply “new this week” on Winebid seems to have jumped up dramatically this week, particularly where I normally look Bordeaux/Rhone. Easily 2x the supply this week. Seems to confirm what was said a few comments above, that it would take a few weeks for the supply to jump resulting from Covid.
I buy older CA Syrah on Winebid often and I usually buy at or slightly above release price.
Some of the more sought after CA Syrah or Rhône blend wines will sell over to well over release.
I find that the smaller or less known labels will sell at the lower prices. Sometimes you can find some gems, sometimes not.
I can’t comment on Pinot.
I think you’re right, that and sheer boredom! It’s the same over here - few lots so higher prices. It’ll go back to normal soon - in fact when the supply rises, the opposite will probably happen, IMHO
I’ve been placing bids on several lots from K&L and lost all of them. Then again I am not an aggressive bidder, and I decide in advance what my max should be and do that as an auto bid.
Depressingly funny video, no wonder auction prices have gone insane!
I put a bunch of bids on 2017 burgs in the zachys auction a little below retail. Everything went above currently-available retail. Of course there is the “pay a small premium to buy in one place” argument but most were not huge lots. Union square had roumier chambolle for 200 for weeks and it hammered at 1300/6 +vig. Strange.
I think one factor is that supply is constrained because of the 25% European tariffs. So there is a price bump for merchants to reload.
At this point its become quite funny and laughable!
For this one I guess there is the charity aspect though I’m not sure how much they played that up.
Found myself on a rabbit trail through the K&L auctions after the post about the Keller lot… pricing seems on the high side for the majority of these lots, foreign and domestic. Very few deals to be found. Perhaps they start their reserve pricing a little higher than winebid? Still looks like a seller’s market to me.
Winebid has a 17% buyer’s premium and K&L’s is 5% - that accounts for pretty much all of the difference, in my experience.
With any reasonably well watched set of auctions with commodities (as opposed to unique items), whether you’re talking fine art prints or cars or wine, they’re mostly going to be average deals and some outstanding ones. 2001 Prüm spätlese usually goes for for $80-100 on K&L. I snagged some for $61 + 5% fee last week. Likewise, 2001 Yquem usually goes for $300+ for a half. Someone snagged a 375ml 3-pack for $730 a few weeks ago (not me, but I wish it had been!).
To me, KL auction inventory looks low.
For example, Burgs today are sitting at only 27 lots (usually 60-120 lots), and most are Rousseau, Dujac etc with either 1 bid or none.
Perhaps the auctions are softening?
Not sure.
Take it from someone who regularly goes through every K&L auction lot 
K&L has fallen behind in uploading new lots over the past few days. Probably more an operational issue than lack of supply. Also over the past few years, the lag time from getting the wine to them and having the listing go up has grown and grown
Good feedback with examples, thanks
I sell a bit through K&L and I’m local to the Redwood City store so I just drop off my bottles. But now I would have to ship them so no bottles being sold by me.
I’m small time but I bet others in the area are also waiting to be able to save the shipping charges.
On the flipside, I saw an auction for 2000 Leoville Barton on K&L, and it went for over $200/bottle when I bought a few only 4 or 5 months ago for $105/bottle (in separate auctions).
I know its a great wine but I just now watched an owc of six 1989 LMHB magnums sell for more than $39k in the Acker auction . . . zowie
That first collection really did well. But keep in mind that it is an increasing rarity at auction- verified one-owner since release for wines that are fully mature. I too was surprised by where the 89 La Mission ended, however when you consider how often that wine flips at auction- to be able to get magnums that have never been moved since release is incredibly rare. And, thus you have that premium that is normal for the rare truly pristine lots. It can be hard to gauge what that premium should be- but this was surely at the higher end of the range!
I ended up with the 82 Magdelaine case- also at a staggering premium relatively speaking, but when am I going to see one again in such condition? Whoever got the 82 Latour a Pomerol case paid even more dearly.
That said- there were some surprisingly soft results. 6 1990 Lafite at 3,500 seemed very low to me given the provenance. And no bids on a case of 88 Climens. That was once a reference standard Sauternes/Barsac by collector consensus, and I am not aware of it being considered over the hill at this point. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
I’m not at all surprised about the Magdelaine and Latour a Pomerol. Those wines are two of the greatest Bordeaux I’ve ever tried, beating out most first growths and other wines of equivalent reputation. As much as I love the Canon, Figeac, and Trotanoy from that vintage they are smoked by that pair in my opinion–particularly the complexity of the nose. I tried to see the hammer prices but am having tech/user error issues with the Acker site. Clearly as the reputation for older Magdelaines has been more recognized over the last couple of years (from this site at least in part) that has driven up pricing. I think the 1975 Magdelaine is just about as good as the 1982, which is almost never the case (though I’ve never tried the LMHB). I found some better deals there–some well under $100, though less frequently over the last several months.
2x 03 Chave Hermitage closed at $1470 (with BP) on KL today… that’s nearly +50% from just 5-6 months ago.