by Charles Metcalfe
The London-based Antique Wine Company has sold an unparalleled collection of top Sauternes Château d Yquem for the record-breaking price of £775,000 ($US1.5 million), to the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. The collection, housed
by Charles Metcalfe
in walnut wood cabinets made to order by David Linley, the Queen s nephew, included every vintage of Yquem produced between 1860 and 2003, and consisted of 135 bottles. Yquem is not produced every year, and the collection includes 9 empty bottles to represent the years when Yquem was not declared.
This is the most extensive collection of Château d Yquem ever to be sold, and includes vintages not even available at the château. There were 26 bidders, from Japan, the USA, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Eire, UK, France, Luxembourg, Russia and Sweden involved in the auction, although the number dropped to four in the last 24 hours of the sale, when the price rose from £550,000 to £775,000.
Managing Director of the Antique Wine Company, Stephen Williams, confirmed his company s close affinity with Yquem: The Antique Wine Company currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most valuable bottle of white wine ever sold, the 1787 Chateau Yquem, and has, on two previous occasions, negotiated the change in ownership of two of the world s greatest Chateau d Yquem collections. The Antique Wine Company also sold 68 other bottles of Yquem to the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, in order that guests might enjoy some of the wines included in the collection. Michel Galopin, General Manager of the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, said: "We are very proud to own the finest Chateau d\'Yquem Collection in the World and to be bringing it back to France.
