Marqués de Riscal holds historic auction in Beijing
The major Rioja producer, Marqués de Riscal, has held a charity auction in Beijing of 100 vintages dating from 1862 to 2005.
The bid for the lot of 100 vintages sold for a record: €161,000, which is thought to be the highest price ever bid for a collection of Spanish wines.
The auction took place on October 25. This lot was acquired by Silas K F Chou, a Hong Kong businessman and American luxury sportswear designer Michael Kors.
A total of 1,450,000 Yuan, (€161,000) was handed over to Aiyou Huaxia charity foundation to benefit children in need. This organisation has helped 10,000 children with congenital heart diseases and focuses its efforts on supporting children with leukaemia.
The idea of holding the auction was conceived in 2008, when the company celebrated its 150th anniversary and China held its first Olympic Games. Marqués de Riscal organised an event to communicate that it was the official wine of the Spanish Olympic Committee in China, and there Jose Luis Muguiro, Marqués de Riscal’s general sales manager, referred to this historical collection of vintage wines when talking to the press. His comments led to such interest that organising this auction was proposed in order to promote the brand name on the Chinese market.
In addition to the historical lot, the auction also included other lots of wine, including some of best vintages from the 19th Century. They included: 1870, 1883, 1889; some of the best vintages from the 20th Century - 1945 and 1964. There was a lot of pot luck vintages (ending in 8, the lucky number in China):1898, 1908, 1958
Finally there was a lot to celebrate the birth of the People’s Republic of China – 1949.
Riscal exports to more than 100 countries and it has been trading in China. For more than 20 years.