The beginning of spring heralded strong biding and good clearance rates at Oddbins W454 auction. We are still seeing a supply driven market with over 2300 lots on offer, and there is evidence that collectors are still seeking an early return on their wine investments, with plenty of post 1996 collectables coming to auction.
Having said that, we were pleased that the level of demand in this auction was up; clearance rates were better than expected with consumers willing to pay well within the price guides. Very much an improvement over W544, with buyers on average, spending up to 20% more on each lot sold.
The Penfold’s brand name continues to dominate the secondary market, representing, in all its various forms, 17% of the Oddbins catalogue. Obviously, Grange remains the single most collectable wine in the Australian secondary market, with strong interest shown in most pre 1997 vintages and especially with the historic wines of the 1950’s and 60’s
We also note with interest that buyers were generally not concerned with our provenance tags, where we identified wines coming from particularly good cellars with a “#” symbol. This appears to be vote of confidence in our warehouse staff’s ability to correctly list and describe wines at Oddbins.
The current exceptional interest shown in early vintages of Grange continued this auction with an anonymous collector paying $AUD20,600 for the rare Bin 4 1952 Grange, the first commercial release of this now very famous brand. As a matter of interest, only 100 to 150 cases were ever released of this wine and it was sold, on release, for approximately $AUD1 per bottle!
From the label, we are able to determine that this particular wine had undergone two “health checks” in its lifetime. Once in the 1950’s with the label giving a decanting date and then in the 2003 when it was presented to a Penfold’s Red Wine Clinic for assessment and re-corking, which it successfully passed. The indications are then, that this rarity is still quite drinkable at about $4000 per glass!
At the same time another 1952, but in damaged condition, fetched $AUD5,800
Overall, sales of Grange were steady with consumers and collectors’ still preferring to buy pre 1997’s over the more recently released vintages and mint conditioned ones over the imperfects. The Oddbins Good Grange Index, our price monitor of the so called good Granges and an indicator of the overall “health” of the Grange market, remained steady at 110pts, 1pt down from W544.
This auction also saw the sale of a set of 20 Grange magnums from 1979 through 1998 for $AUD27,000 as well as a set of Penfold’s Magill Estate shiraz , 1983 through 2001, for $AUD950 and a set of Bin 389’s from 1990 to 2001 for $AUD456. Other Penfold’s highlights included the sale of arguably one of Australia’s greatest ever wines, the 1962 Bin 60A for $AUD2,200 and the clearance of the not often seen 1960 Bin 658 Show sauternes for $AUD180.
While it was a relatively quite time for many of Australia’s “cult” wines, keen interest shown in Wild Duck Estate’s famed Duck Muck, with the recently released 1992 Duck Muck fetching $350 per bottle. Other highlights from the sale included good clearance rates of mid 1990’s Hill of Grace’s and the enigmatic Mount Mary Quintet cabernet blends..
Overall, consumers were still opting for safe and sound wines from known auction performers and importantly from the better vintages. There was also a continuance at this auction with the Australian obsession for shiraz as cabernet, cabernet blends and grenache-based blends failed to excite the market place.
On the foreign front, we were more than pleased with the performance of two highly regarded but little know Spanish wines, Alion and Remelluri, while the wines of Bordeaux remain very strong in both terms of sales and hammer prices, especially from earlier vintages such as the famed 1982, which performed beyond expectation. And closer to home, Kiwi premium pinots were also keenly sought after.
A special mention must be made for the high hammer prices achieved for Jim Beam collectables, such as a full train set which fetched $AUD900 for the six piece set, the Opera House ornamental decanter and the specialist cars. What was thought to be a declining or dying market definitely still has a lot of life left in it, with the train set decanters fetching well above the $110-140 auction estimates.
Old hands in the auction game constantly tell young novices about the cyclical nature of the secondary market. “Just be patient, it will sell in time” auctioneer Steve Lumb and his partner Merrilyn Middleton keeps telling the staff. And they are right, with renewal in interest for wines such as Rosemount’s Balmoral, St Hallett Old Block’s and the wines of Fox Creek.
The arrival of spring also traditionally heralds a revival in interest in crisper, dryer styles of white wine, in particular current vintage rieslings and sauvignon blancs, especially those offered in mixed lots. Commercial quantities of white, such as the 2003 Adelaide Hills rielsing, achieved better than expected clearance rates.
As mentioned above, the cyclical nature of the Australian auction market means that there is also a corresponding lack of interest in some wines. From this auction, buyers were a little shy on benchmarks such as Rockford’s Basket Press shiraz, post 1996 Grange, Grant Burge’s Meshach, Wynns black label cabernet. And sadly, little interest was shown in most of the wines on offer from Burgundy and Italy. Surprisingly, vintage dated Para Liqueur ports failed to achieve clearance rates we have come to expect from this famous fortified.
The outlook then, in the short term, is for the secondary market to remain steady: it’s still a buyers market with good supply of wine across most categories with good bargains to be had. The fact remains that fresh young wines can be bought at auction well below their current retail prices.
However, vendors needn’t despair, as good prices are being paid for classic and historic Australian wine styles from better and older vintages and with aged Bordeaux from the better vintages. As always we advise potential sellers to be patient as the auction market is highly cyclical in nature, so matching a wine to buyer may just take some time.
Cheers,
Graham Wright
Auctioneer & Valuer
Oddbins Wine Auctions
graham@oddbins.com.au