Buying wine at auction

By: Tom Black

Published On: May 07, 2010

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“I never had a glass of wine a little I didn’t spill, but despite my awkwardness I always got my fill (TB).”

Well, last month I had dinner with one of America’s greatest wine collectors and spillers, Frank Komorowski. He lives in Bellevue, Ohio and converted a bank vault into a wine cellar. Frank had decided to sell a lot of his wine ($1.8 million worth). I went to the auction and even bought some (like I needed more—duh). But I knew the source and the storage (called “provenance” by collectors), and so I picked up a few bottles. Last week, someone asked me where I got all my old wine. Now you know the answer, too—wine auctions—both commercial and charity. So if you want rare wines, wine auctions are where to get it. But the questions surrounding that are the point of this article.

Why? Well some great wine is not available through your local retailer. We have great local retailers but they can’t carry everything. Older wine is especially difficult to find, but auctions have it.

Where? Well, the main Commercial Auction houses are in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Here are their names and phone numbers. You can also check them out on the Web.

Sotheby’s—New York
(212) 606-7000; sothebys.com

Christie’s—New York
(212) 636-2000; christies.com

Zachys—New York
(914) 448-3026; zachys.com

Bonhams & Butterfields—San Francisco
(415) 861-7500; bonhams.com/us

Hart Davis Hart Wine Co.—Chicago
(312) 482-9996; hdhwine.com

The Chicago Wine Company—Chicago
(847) 647-8789; tcwc.com

Edward Roberts International
847-295-8696; eriwine.com

These auction houses conduct sales all year long. You can call them, e-mail them or go to their website to get a schedule. Some have complimentary catalogs and some charge a fee. Mention my name and you might get the first catalog free.

How? If you can write a check or print your credit card number, you can buy wine from any of these people. Bidding is done in person, by phone or by absentee bid form. In person is easy. You show up, register and raise your paddle. By phone, you notify them of what wine lots you’re interested in and they call you when that item is being sold and you bid over the phone. Absentee bids are submitted in writing. Even if I am going to an auction, I use this method because it limits my weakness to overpay. With absentee bids your enthusiasm can’t get the best of you. However, it’s fun to go in person, and that’s where you can always get bargains. I am a bit like my mother, though. She loved bargains too much. She bought a case of dog food because it was on sale. We don’t have a dog.

Wine prices vary from $20 a bottle to $100,000 a bottle, so there is something for everyone.

Every type of wine is sold from every region in the world. By the way, I don’t buy wine on eBay because I don’t know the provenance of the wine. The auction houses who sell the wine, stand behind it. Yes, I’ve bought bad wine from auctions, but I’ve also bought bad wine in restaurants and retail stores. All of these businesses stand behind what they sell.

Have I ever sold wine at auction? Yes. After 20 years of collecting my tastes have changed, so the last couple of years, I’ve thinned my collection and sold wine I just wasn’t going to drink. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

So you have a special year in your life—a birth year, an anniversary, a child’s birth year—then auctions are a good place to look (also, check with your local retailer. They can help too for special bottles from special years). I recommend you get help the first time you bid. There are abbreviations of the wine’s condition that you need to understand in order to make a good decision as to value. For example, “mid-shoulder” means weakening of the cork and some risk of purchase. BSL means “bin soiled label.” The codes are in the catalogues, but I suggest personal help the first time you go up to bat.

Any auction is a lot of fun, but as my friend Billy Ray Hearn says, “If you get all you bid on, you paid too much.”