LONDON, Oct 20 ― Petrus wines spanning more than half a century and dating back to 1945 go on sale at a Sotheby’s auction in London this week along with historic Pomerol from the 1920s and Burgundies including Echezeaux 1978 Jayer.

A case of Chateau Latour a Pomerol 1961 carries an upper estimate of £50,000 (RM255,000), while 12 bottles of Petrus 1982 are priced to fetch as much as £38,000, according to Sotheby’s online catalogue. Two cases of Petrus 1990 and one of its 1989 vintage each carry top estimates of £30,000.

The sale comes as the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index, tracking leading Bordeaux vintages from more recent years, has declined since March 15, paring an 8 per cent gain made in the previous 11 weeks to leave it 1 per cent up since the end of December. Lower demand from Asia has combined with sterling strength against the dollar to leave the benchmark index little changed from the level at which it was trading at the end of June last year.

“Overall it’s a good time to be investing, because prices have come down so much over the last couple of years,’ said Chris Smith, investment manager at The Wine Investment Fund in London. “We’re now well below the trend line, so that in itself gives potential for a boost.” The fund, invested in Bordeaux, manages US$50 million.

Personal cellar

Historic bottles in the sale include one magnum of Petrus 1945, with a top estimate of £16,000, another from its 1961 vintage valued at as much as £13,000 and a magnum of Latour a Pomerol 1929 priced to fetch as much as £5,500.

Petrus has 28 acres planted with red-grape vines, of which 95 per cent are Merlot and 5 per cent Cabernet Franc. The Bordeaux vineyard is in Pomerol, on the right bank of the Dordogne river. Fermentation is in temperature-controlled concrete tanks and the wine matured in new oak barrels.

Lots in the first part of the sale come from the personal cellar of Lily Lacost-Loubat, a former owner of Petrus who inherited both that estate and Chateau Latour a Pomerol in 1961 from her aunt, according to an e-mailed Sotheby’s statement. Proceeds from that part of the sale will go to a charity.

Wines elsewhere in the auction, which is estimated to raise as much as £1.4 million in total, include a single bottle of Echezeaux 1978 Burgundy from Henri Jayer, carrying a top estimate of £3,600, and eight bottles of Maison Leroy’s Musigny 1978, priced to fetch as much as £14,000.

Here is a list of global wine auctions scheduled so far this year. Dates may be subject to revision, and links are to auction house sale catalogues and websites.

OCTOBER:

Oct 23: Sotheby’s, London Oct 24: Bonhams, London Oct 24: Christie’s, London Oct 25/26: Acker Merrall & Condit, Hong Kong Oct 25/26: Hart Davis Hart, Chicago

NOVEMBER:

Nov 7/8: Christie’s, London Nov 9: Sotheby’s, New York Nov 12/13: Christie’s, Geneva Nov 13: Sotheby’s, London Nov 15: Christie’s, New York Nov 21: Acker Merrall & Condit, New York Nov 21: Bonhams, Hong Kong Nov 23: Bonhams, San Francisco Nov 24: Christie’s, Hong Kong

DECEMBER:

Dec 5: Bonhams, London Dec 6: Christie’s, Paris Dec 7: Christie’s, New York Dec 7: Sotheby’s, New York Dec 11: Sotheby’s, London Dec 12: Bonhams, London Dec 12/13: Christie’s, London Dec 13/14 Acker Merrall & Condit, Hong Kong Dec 13/14: Hart Davis Hart, Chicago Dec 18: Acker Merrall & Condit, New York ― Bloomberg