A six-litre bottle of 1961 Chateau Latour fetched 62,000 US dollars at Sotheby's first wine auction in Hong Kong, a spokesman said.

The imperial bottle, the equivalent to eight regular bottles, sold for 484,000 Hong Kong dollars to a private Asian bidder at the auction, a Sotheby's spokesman said.

It had been expected to fetch between 266,000 and 363,000 Hong Kong dollars.

All 750 lots at Saturday's auction were sold fetching a total of 49.9 million Hong Kong dollars, with more than 90 percent of lots beating the pre-auction estimate, the spokesman said.

Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby?s international wine department, said the sale had been a "spectacular" success.

"The results are a wonderful reflection of the quality of the lots that we offered and also of the incredible appetite in Asia for coveted wines with excellent provenance," she said.

Sutcliffe added that there were many buyers from mainland China at the sale.

Wine has become increasingly popular in Asia in recent years, and Hong Kong has tried to establish itself as the region's wine hub.

Last year, the city abolished all duty on importing wine. The move has attracted some of the world's top auction houses to start sales in the southern Chinese city.

The wine auction was the first sale of Sotheby's spring auction here, which will see paintings, antiques and gems go under the hammer. The company is hoping the sale will fetch more than 600 million Hong Kong dollars.