United States' leading wine seller Acker Merrall & Condit said on Thursday it will hold its first auction of 2009 on Saturday in Hong Kong, its third auction in the city following a tax scrap by the local government last year.

The auction will present an array of 1,000 lots of wines and champagnes, with an estimated value of 30 million HK dollars (3.85million U.S. dollars).

Acker Merrall & Condit's President and Auction Director John Kapon said, "Following on from the success of our Hong Kong sales last year which achieved a spectacular annual total of 116 million HK dollars (15 million U.S. dollars), we are very excited to bring to Hong Kong for the first time a tremendous selection of older and rarer wines which have never before appeared at auction in Asia."

He noted that Hong Kong government's exemption of wine duty to zero in 2008 has given a great boost to the market and helped foster a stronger wine culture in Hong Kong, which is now well positioned in the marketplace to become the wine hub in the Asia region.

Two highlighting collections include Vintage Champagne and Wines from the Cellar of Robert Rosania, who is the world's foremost collector of vintage Champagne, and a legendary collection of ancient Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Leading the sale is a rare selection of red Burgundy from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Taking the center-stage is a superlot of 132 bottles of DRC La Tache from the best 11 vintages between 1985 and 2003, with an estimated value between 1.6 million to 2.4 million HK dollars.

Acker Merrall & Condit fetched 64 million HK dollars (8.2 million U.S. dollars) in its first auction in Hong Kong last May, setting the record for any wine auction in Asia, and moved forward for a second auction in the city last November amid the global economic downturn.

Hong Kong announced a duty scrap on wine and beer in last February, which led to high expectations cherished by the wine industry and a potential boom of the wine market.