At a friends birthday party some 5 years ago now I met a man who told me about a hobby of his, which was to go to wine auctions in the hunt for weird wines and bargains. That thought sort of stuck and ever since I’ve wanted to attend one but haven’t gotten around to it. Today I called Sotheby’s and ordered a catalogue for their Fine and Rare Wine auction on June 16th in London.

My friend’s friend was no wine snob at all, nor was he in the wine trade, he was simply there as a private person because he could pick up “bargains that no one else wanted”, “weird mature red wines from Austria that you’ve never heard of” and also he liked the the beautiful venue it was in, he said.

So for some reason this thought came to my mind today and I called Sotheby’s to learn a bit more. A very helpful lady told me that there are essentially three ways you can participate. Either you come there in person, bring a photo id, and register on site. You could also instruct their staff to bid up to a certain sum, called ‘absentee bidding’. Third, you could attend the auction online, something they started with last year and is becoming very popular and also attracts a large international audience.

She asked me what I was looking for in particular and I said that this is the first time I’m doing this and I just wanted to see what the experience was like. If I could pick up a bargain on the way, or have the opportunity to buy some exotic wines that would be difficult to find elsewhere, then that would be bonus. So she patiently took me through the basics.

First, there is a catalogue detailing all the ‘lots’ on offer, with a suggested prices associated with it. Since this was the first time for me she offered to send me one for free, otherwise you have to pay a small amount or download it for free on their website. She mentioned that for this auction they had a case of 1978 La Tache from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti which they expected to sell for £30-40/K, however she quickly pointed out that there are also cases selling for approx £200-250. (according to Decanter’s Fine Wine Tracker the ’78 La Tache sold for £21,850 per case in March 2010)

My friend’s friend also told me that sometimes, especially if they auction some private wine collection etc., you could find half a case of a certain wine. This apparently makes it fall through the cracks in a way so that it doesn’t get picked up by professional buyers, and could therefore represent real bargains. The lady at Sotheby’s also implied that being on site makes it easier to identify bargains, perhaps more so a bit later in the day when some of the online bidders had left the auction.

Second, wines come either as ‘duty paid’ or ‘in bond’. She suggested that for a private person perhaps it would be easier to buy the ‘duty paid’. She offered to discuss specifics once I have had a good look in the catalogue. (some great customer service here!)

Third, and this was nothing you really needed to consider right now, but you would have to arrange for transport and storage. Now, storage is an entire chapter on its own, but since I have recently opened an account with BBR for my first en primeur purchases I thought I would mention this, and she said that many of their clients also work with BBR so they could easily arrange for transport.

Important to bear in mind is that any purchase is subject to a 15% “buyers premium” plus VAT.

So I left the conversation still really excited about the whole thing, but also feeling as if there are people there who can guide me through the process and that you don’t need to be a professional wine buyer to get involved. I’ll let you know once I have received the catalogue and have had a good look.

In the meantime, I would be keen to hear from anyone who have any experience form buying at auction? Have you found any bargains? Any tips or stories you want to share?