An assortment of rare wines raised 41% more total sales at the annual Nederberg Auction - the largest fine wines sale in South Africa.

Large retailers including Spar and Tesco were among the bidders

In the end, the sale on September 3 and 4 netted 5.68 million rand ($789,513), over just 4 million rand ($553,880) the previous year according to the auctioneer.

Highlights included a World Record price of R62,000 ($8,585) paid for six bottles of Nederburg Port 1964. The lot was purchased by Nigerian Obi Josephat Ndibe.

Meanwhile, three bottles of 1972 Groot Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon sold for R5,200 ($720).

In total, the sale showcased 161 specialty wines from 81 producers. The average price for a case of red wine was R1,515 ($210), while dozen-bottle lots of dry white wine brought around R1,100 ($152).

Some of the largest gains were made by the so-called "New World" wines, including vintages from Australia and South America.

The Nederberg Auction has grown into South Africa's biggest auction from humble beginnings in 1975

The success of these New World lots corresponds with Liv-Ex's market analysis, which recorded price increases of 33% for the wines over the past year.

Average prices at the sale included R1,100 for a dozen bottles of dry white wine

According to Nederburg, Spar, the world's largest food retailer, was the event's top buyer with total purchases of R830,940 ($115,060).

Spar was closely followed by Checkers and the British-based Tesco Wine, the latter spending R522,000 ($72,281).

Bloomberg reports that the sales totals show an almost 60-fold increase in South African wine prices over the past 36 years.

The Nederberg Auction has certainly come a long way since its humble beginning in 1975. Its first sale featured just 15 wines from five farms.

Back then, each of the bottles raised an average price of 19 rand (about $2.60).

The Nederberg Auction was held in Paarl, 55 kilometers (34 miles) north east of Cape Town.

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