Hong Kong businessman Joseph Lau sold a collection of fine wine for HK$72.9 million ($9.3 million) in an auction, fetching more than $41,000 a bottle for some rare French vintages.
All of the wine lots sold, and the amount raised exceeded the $4.5 million estimate from Christie’s, according to a statement Thursday from the auction house.
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The sale offered more than 200 lots of wine, including rarities from producer Henri Jayer, vintages from Petrus and selections from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti as part of Christie’s Hong Kong Luxury Week. The 10-bottle lot of Henri Jayer, Vosne-Romanēe Cros Parantoux 1999 sold for HK$3.25 million, triple the low estimate, Christie’s said.
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Named “Iconic Wines From Joseph Lau Part III”, the auction marked the third time that Lau sold his wine at Christie’s, after two sales in 2022 yielded a combined $16 million. The auction house also said they are planning two more sessions of Lau’s fine wine collection in the future.
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The former chairman of Hong Kong real estate firm Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. is a well-known collector. Lau owns a variety of luxury items, from paintings, diamonds, handbags to wine. He also worked with Sotheby’s to offload dozens of mostly Hermes bags for HK$25.2 million, and another antiques collection.
Lau, 73, has a net worth of about $5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Lau’s property business has been caught in a property downturn in the Asia financial hub. It reported a loss of HK$2.1 billion last year, mainly due to a decrease in fair value of its investment properties. Previously, the group’s revenue was hurt by its investment in the failed developer China Evergrande Group.