Taiwanese billionaire Pierre Chen auctions 25,000 bottles from his wine cellar. Proceeds: more than €50 million

Bam. More than 2 million euros were raised by a Sotheby's auction of Burgundy wines last week! The auction took place at the 13th-century Couvent des Cordeliers in Beaune/Burgundy.
Text: Ingrid Larmoyeur, The Wine Institute | Image: unsplash.com

Auctioned were top Burgognes from the cellar of Taiwanese entrepreneur Pierre Chen. The most expensive lot of 6 bottles of Chevalier Montrachet d'Aubenay 2009 brought €106,205. 12 bottles of Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Bèze 1990 brought a combined €100,000, a whopping 67% more than the estimate.

Furthermore, no fewer than eight world records were broken at this auction. For example, three bottles of 2005 DRC (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti) Échezeaux brought €10,000 per bottle, double the previous world record. The most expensive bottle was a magnum: the 2005 DRC La Tâche changed hands for €35,000.

Sotheby's is currently auctioning some 25,000 wines from Chen's collection that he has collected over 40 years. In doing so, the auction house expects to raise a total of some $50 million at auctions in Beaune (now), Hong Kong (late 2023) and soon New York, calling Chen's collection "the ultimate wine collection" and "the largest, most important and by far the most valuable wine collection ever to come to the market". Go figure. Besides valuable wines from Burgundy, the billionaire has incidentally also collected exclusive bottles from Bordeaux and Champagne, among others, in addition to an impressive art collection. The series of auctioned wines is already known as 'The Epicurean's Atlas'.

Chen's wealth is currently estimated at $6.7 billion by Forbes. He owns an electronic components company (Yageo). Reportedly, the 25,000 vials currently auctioned are only part of his collection.

Well. We'll just stick to drinking a nice glass now and then instead of collecting. What you guys...?

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