Pascal Kuzniewski and Maître Besch
At a past wine sale

This is an exceptional sale of grands crus. And it's an unusual one, too, as the Besch auction house from Cannes will be staging it tomorrow at 10.30am and 1.30pm in the lounges of the Hôtel Martinez.

Not that a wine and spirits sale is a first, quite the contrary. But the context is such that this is a new date in the Cannes auction house calendar, on a single day between the usual August and December sequences. Pascal Kuzniewski, the auction's expert, explains: "This is a sale made up mainly of wines from the cellar of a collector and lover of great Burgundy wines. All the wines were acquired from the estates and never left the cellar. This is a guarantee of the quality of these products, which are very rare in the world due to their low production. For this sale, we expect demand to be mainly from abroad. Quite a few people from the United States and Asia have already expressed interest".

840 lots, estimated at between 40 and 42000 euros

On the programme are not just vintage grands crus. A total of 840 lots will be on sale, with bottles priced from 40€ for the most affordable.

For the more expensive wines, you'll have to be prepared to pay 4 or 5-figure sums, like a Romanée-Conti lot comprising nine bottles of five grands crus (including one Romanée-Conti) estimated at between 35000 and 42000 euros, or a lot containing a bottle of Musigny 2001 from Domaine Leroy. At the time, only 596 bottles were collected, giving an estimate of between 15000 and 20000 euros per bottle.

Here is a selection of more (or less) affordable lots for wine lovers.

1. "Full-bodied" winter wines

Lot 616 offers a red wine from the Rhône Valley, from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape estate in 2010. "These wines are perfect for winter because they're quite full-bodied and robust. It's a full-bodied, velvety wine". The three bottles are estimated at between 165 and 195 euros*’.

2. The expert's favourite

This is lot 158, and the expert's favourite. Presented in its original box, this 2022 Arbois Trousseau from Domaine Saint-Pierre is from an exceptional estate that is becoming increasingly fashionable. Lot estimate : between 270 and 300 euros for six bottles.

3. Vintages 1934, 1942 and 1947

Beware of approaching vintages from the last century : lots 587, 588 and 589 contain, respectively, a Château Margaux from 1934 (between 300 and 420 euros), a Château Haut-Brion from 1942 (between 400 and 550 euros), and a Château Gilette doux, from the Sauternes appellation (white wine, between 250 and 320 euros).

4. The white wines are also exceptional

These lots (309 to 359) are some of the rarest white wines in the world (a few hundred to a few thousand bottles produced), as they come from the Domaine d'Auvenay, with bottles estimated from 1000 euros each (up to a few thousand euros for the most expensive).

5. Magnums of Bordeaux 2006

As for lot 767, this is a case from the 2006 Château Saint-Pierre, a Bordeaux Saint-Julien classé (between 450 and 550 euros a case).

J.T. - jtomatis@nicematin.fr

NICE MATIN of October Friday 11, 2024