Lafite-Rothschild fetches $540,000 as $8.3 million wine sale starts

A 300-bottle collection of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild spanning every year from 1981 to 2005 fetched $540,000 at the start of a two-day Hong Kong auction estimated to raise as much as $8.3 million.

The price including fees made it the most expensive single lot of wine auctioned this year, said the London-based auction house. The 25 cases of the Bordeaux first-growth, said to have been kept in pristine condition, sold to an absentee bidder, without a hand raised in the silent room.

The price was below its presale high estimate as a slump in financial markets made some bidders hesitant. The region’s stocks have had their biggest monthly slump since May 2010.

Bidders drank glasses of Moet et Chandon Champagne and had macaroons from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel as they competed with bidders on the telephone and from the Internet for the top items, such as Petrus 1947 that tallied $350,000, meeting its top estimate. Estimates don’t include commission.

The sale of about 570 lots continued through Saturday.