The first commercially bottled wines from the Kingdom of Bhutan will be auctioned by Bonhams in an online auction between April 3 and 24. These are 48 numbered bottles from the Bhutan Wine Company's inaugural 2023 vintage.
The name of the cuvée, Ser Kem, means "Alcohol Offering to the Gods" and is a tribute to the country's spiritually influenced culture. The 21 lots are distributed across different formats, with the highlight being a large-format bottle, "The Himalaya," with exactly 7.57 liters, a tribute to Gangkhar Puensum, the highest unclimbed mountain in the world at 7,570 meters. The only counterpart to this bottle is reserved for the King of Bhutan. The future buyer will also be offered a trip to the site, including a visit to the Bhutan Wine Company, as well as a preferential allocation of the next five vintages. The auction will take place without reserve prices, and the estimated price for "The Himalaya" is between $40,000 and $80,000 (€37,000 to €74,000). The estimated price of the most affordable lot, a 0.75-liter bottle of Ser Kem, is between $2,000 and $4,000 (€1,855 to €3,710).
Viticulture in Bhutan, located in the Himalayan region between India and China, began in 2017 after two Americans, Michael Juergens and Ann Cross, fell in love with the country and founded the Bhutan Wine Company. In 2019, the first vineyards were planted in different parts of the country with varying microclimates. The winery currently has approximately 81 ha/200 ac of land, of which about 20 ha/50 ac are planted with vines, spread across nine locations at altitudes ranging from 150 meters to nearly 2,800 meters throughout the country.
Because there is still no experience with viticulture in the country, 16 different grape varieties are currently planted: nine red (Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, and Grenache) and seven white (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Vidal, and Traminette). Ann Cross, co-founder and CEO of the Bhutan Wine Company, explained to Bonhams: "There is no other wine region in the world that has such a diversity of terroirs in such a small space. (...) Bhutan benefits from a harmonious environment with pure water, no smog, pristine soils, high biodiversity, and a long history of cultivating various world-class agricultural crops." SP
