Oddbins April auction confirmed a softening in pricing and sales that is occurring in the Australian wine auction scene, as clearance rates were slightly down on the last auction and as buyers continued to look for bargains in a well supplied market place. Oddbins expects this trend to continue well into the first half of 2005. So for the foreseeable future…it’s a buyer’s paradise!
Highlights from this auction include strong sales in Clarendon Hill’s little seen Astralis, most of the Greenock Creek portfolio, Henschke 94 Cyril’s, Mount Edelstone and Keyneton Estate, while “super cult” producers Torbreck and Three Rivers achieved near perfect clearance rates.
Pleasingly, buyers also indicated a small but significant return to cabernet and cabernet blends, with good clearance rates for Cullen cabernet merlots, Penfold’s Bin 707, Moss Wood, Wolf Blass Black Label and Wynns Black label cabernets.
However, Australians still continue to vote with their feet when it comes to shiraz, especially in the form of older and classic vintage wines such as Coriole Lloyd Reserve, early d’Arenberg Dead Arm, ’98 Mount Langhi Ghiran, Penfold’s Magill and St Henri’s and early Rockford Basket Press where sales were strong. And special mention should be made of shiraz and shiraz blends from Wendouree, as better than expected clearance rates suggest a return to favour of this often over-looked Clare Valley brand.
Individual auction highlights include the sale of a rarely seen Seppelt’s Para Liqueur 1880 for a hammer price of $760, a magnum of 1989 Three Rivers for $1550 and a bottle of ‘95 Three Rivers achieving an auction high of $810, while a magnum of 1980 Grange fetched a hammer price of $2350.
As with the general auction market, Penfold’s Grange sales this auction remained relatively quiet, with buyers mainly concentrating on the older vintages and as would be expected those wines that had been personally signed by the late Max Schubert. And as a matter of investor interest, those that have been signed are generally fetching well above the top end of the Oddbins published guide.
This auction’s Good Grange Index, the Oddbins monitor of the better rated vintage Grange, fell 9pts or 8.7%, to 94 points based on the slowing down in hammer prices paid for 1986 and the 1990 vintages. In recent months, the supply of these key wines has also affected the market price, as buyers now know that these wines are readily available.
And for those that missed out on their allocation of 2000 Grange: we are expecting a few bottles to arrive on our doorstep for the May 31st auction. The interesting question for us is what kind of price guide we are going to put on this contentious wine?
The softening in the market has also seen buyers moving away from past auction performers. We are advising vendors not to panic about this fact as this is mainly due to the current, highly cyclical nature of the secondary wine market, and it is expected that with time, buyers will return to such overlooked items. Patience is the watchword at present.
So what did buyers overlook? Wines from Bannockburn, Dalwhinnie, Noon’s and Parker Estate were quiet, while more specifically, Burge’s Meshach, Leeuwin Art Series cabernets, Orlando’s St Hugo and Lawson shiraz, Petaluma, Mt Horrocks and Grossett rieslings (a change in seasons), Rockford Black shiraz and late vintage Rockford Basket Press.
Further, most vintages of Penfold’s Bin 128, 28, 389, RWT, with plenty of stock available, and late vintage Grange has also been slow to clear. And as mentioned above, cabernet as a variety is still a major under-performer in the secondary market and for this auction this also included the multiple offerings from Bordeaux.
So why “worth considering”? These wines can be of exceptional quality and can in many instances come from exceptional years. So a bid towards to the lower end of the guide can bring very pleasing results!
A glimmer of hope and a ray of sunshine came to what was thought to be the dead market for fortifieds, in particular Australian port styles and classic muscats and tokays as there was renewed interest and good clearance rates achieved for these styles. Pricing however still remains at the bottom end of the price guides.
Our next auction is May 31st, so until then…successful bidding!
From the reliable and ever excitable team at Oddbins.