Wine Auctions - Part Two – by Ric Einstein ©

Langton’s are one of most respected wine auction houses in the business and they deserve their fine reputation. They conduct about 18 wine auctions a year in Sydney and Melbourne, some are live and some are silent bid. Absentee silent bids can be placed for all auctions. The wine has to be delivered to them prior to listing for auction (unlike some other sites) so each bottle can be inspected and catalogued with notes relating to condition if necessary.

There fees are not exactly inexpensive, they charge both the buyer and seller 11% (each including GST.) If you want to subscribe to their catalogue the fee for twelve months is $88 for a printed copy or $33 for an electronic email list. I can understand the fee for the printed brochure but an electronic price list costs almost nothing to produce and distribute. To my way of thinking, Langton’s are discouraging business by charging for the electronic email price list.

They are very efficient and the most professional and thorough wine auction house I have dealt with to date. They can be found at http://www.langtons.com.au/index.html

Vines Premium Wine Auctioneers are an auction house that I have mixed feeling about. I have bought and sold through them with good results but I still have niggling concerns. Firstly they do not seem as efficient as some others and frequently take an inordinate length of time to respond to emails. Also, when requested to do something by email  (admittedly minor) the request was ignored despite confirming it would be done.

When submitting wines to them for an estimate, in my opinion the prices quoted were shall we say, “very optimistic.” In the past, the high percentage of the wines listed to me seemed like the starting prices were way to high for Australian bidders and Parker Points are quoted through out the site. It looks to me like they are trying to attract overseas buyers.

Interestingly, I noticed in their last auction a much more realistic attitude towards starting prices on many wines, so may be things are changing for the better. They can be found at http://www.vines.netauctions.net.au/

There are a myriad of other auctions sites located across the country as well as numerous Internet sites. Some of these sites attract incredible returns for the vendors and some offer real bargains for the purchaser. But there are risks associated with auctions and here are a few tips.

Firstly, unless you can see the bottle you don’t know its condition and even if you can see it, that doesn’t mean that the bottle hasn’t been stored above the fridge or in a hot garage for a few years. Previous cellaring may be great, but it may also be well below an acceptable level so this risk must be understood when buying from auction. Also, remember the person you are buying the wine from may have bought it at auction previously.

If you are bidding for multiple lots in a silent auction, remember that you may win them all, so take this into account when working out how much you wish to spend.

Can wine purchased from auction be a great result– it sure can! But it can turn out to be a fizzer, so do your homework and realise there is risk involved.

Cheers

Ric

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2003