Chicago's specialist wine auction house Hart Davis Hart closed the first half of the year with a successful two-day auction during the weekend of June 24 and 25, making a total of $6,275,781 against a pre-sale auction estimate of $4,597,360-$6,882,000.
Bidders participated from a large number of countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
Bidding for Burgundy was especially strong, with a case of 1996 La Tâche Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, estimated at between $14,000-20,000 actually selling above this for $23,900.
Nine bottles of 1991 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Armand Rousseau reached a final price of $17,925, beating the estimated value of between $9,500-14,000.
 Chambertin is just one type of fine wine selling well in the market right now |
Company CEO Paul Hart said Hart Davis Hart "enjoyed a very strong first half of 2011 and we look forward to the fall season. We appreciate the continued support of our buyers and consignors from Chicago, around the US, and all over the world."
In the first half of 2011, the auction house made $23,188,102 over the course of four sales. Three of the four auctions were 100% sold, with the fourth sale at 99% by lot.
Hart Davis Hart's 2011 auctions will resume in the autumn, with a spectacular sale on the weekend of September 17. The auction will be preceded by the firm's annual and highly popular Comparative Bordeaux Tasting featuring the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages.
This news will provide more optimism in the already buoyant wine market, as a large number of recent sales have shown there is still a lot of interest in both buying and selling it.
Indeed, as Paul Fraser Collectibles has reported during the few months, making an investment in fine vintages now could pay dividends in the future, as between 2005 and 2010 the Liv-ex 100 Wine Index showed a 31.8% yearly value increase on Bordeaux and other leading producers, a figure far higher than the returns offered by most funds and savings accounts.
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