And I hesitate to spend over $100 on a bottle

Suspense and intrigue over the weekend at a wine auction event in Hong Kong over the weekend.

From the International Herald Tribune:

The event at the Island Shangri-La Hotel was expected to last six hours. But long after potential buyers had finished their lunch of beef tenderloin and goose liver ravioli, it became clear that frantic bidding for the 922 lots would last into the evening. In a rare move, the entire auction was moved to another room, where glasses of 1995 Dom Perignon were handed out the way most places hand out water. The crowd roared with applause when the top lot was sold, and again when it was announced that the 21 percent buyer’s premium would be donated to earthquake aid in Sichuan Province.

Singapore’s Singgih Gunawan took home 12 bottles of 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for $242,000 USD – “the biggest lot at the biggest wine auction in Asian history”.

It would seem France is not the only country updating their wine legislation. With the wine tax eliminated recently, turning Hong Kong into a free-market for these kinds of affairs, the expectation is to see wine consumption and commerce continue to skyrocket over the next several years.

(Photo by WTL)