Sotheby's Hong Kong held the first wine auction of 2010 as well as the auctioneer's first stand-alone wine sale in Hong Kong outside the regular Spring and Autumn sales series yesterday, offering the fourth part of The Classic Cellar from a Great American Collector at The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. The sale realized an exceptional total of $6,784,842, well in excess of the high estimate of $5.2 million, and was Sotheby's highest total ever achieved for a single day wine sale. All four of Sotheby's Hong Kong wine auctions have been 100 percent sold, with the prices achieved above the high estimate.

The 10-hour auction saw many new and existing buyers competing from all across Asia. The auctioneers fielded bids from the room, the telephones and the online bidders addition to bidders from a secondary sale room that was set up due to the unprecedented demand from clients to attend the sale. Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2003, Haut Brion 1998, Le?oville Lascases 1996 and Lynch Bages 2000 were served on-site. There was particularly strong participation from collectors and connoisseurs from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan, who were the most significant buyers. Online bidders competed for over 66 percent of the lots offered.

Serena Sutcliffe, MW, Head of Sotheby's International Wine department, commented after the sale: "Today's sale is the first wine auction of the year and it brought impressive results that far exceeded the high estimate with a sell-through rate of 100 percent. This is a wonderful start to Sotheby's great line-up of Single Owner Sales that we have scheduled this year and is a direct result of Sotheby's strong client relationships through our network of offices throughout Asia, which cannot be matched by other wine auction houses and differentiates Sotheby's from its competitors. The Classic Cellar from a Great American Collector is the most important wine collection that Sotheby's has ever offered at auction and the impeccable provenance means that collectors from across Asia have complete confidence in buying wines from this great cellar. Sotheby's high standards and the uncompromising quality of the wines we offer at auction are reflected by the very strong results we achieve. Sotheby's will further increase its commitment to Asia by expanding our Single Owners sales schedule in Hong Kong in the Spring and Fall in 2010 and we look forward to announcing our plans in the near future. We also look forward to Sotheby's next wine auctions of An Outstanding Private Collection which will be held in London on 27th January and The Lloyd Flatt Collection which will be offered in New York on March 20th."

Sotheby Hong Kong Spring Sales 2010 will be held from April 3rd to 8th at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, including The Classic Cellar from a Great American Collector V, alongside an exceptional selection of Chinese ceramics, Asian art, jewelry and watches.