Strauss & Co online wine auction sets new record

Strauss & Co established a new South African wine auction record when a vertical tracking three decades of Paul Sauer, the Cape Bordeaux Red Blend from Kanonkop in Stellenbosch, sold to an online bidder for R546 240 at the start of a three-day virtual auction which began on Sunday 26 July.

The offering of 19 large-format bottles (double magnums and jeroboams), spanning the vintages 1988 to 2006, came from a private collection assembled and stored at the property. The pre-sale estimate ranged from R200 000 to R250 000.

The wine auction was part of a three-day virtual sale of South African fine wine and modern, post-war and contemporary art. The fine-wine sale comprised 124 lots representing three leading Cape producers – Kanonkop, Klein Constantia and Boekenhoutskloof – and total sales of R2 264 429 were achieved. All 124 lots on offer successfully find buyers.

A smaller vertical of Paul Sauer vintages from 1997 to 2002, each bottle of the six bottles measuring three litres, sold for R 91 040. Other notable Kanonkop lots sold included the inaugural 2006 vintage of the estate’s Black Label Pinotage, which fetched R 34 140, and 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon, which achieved R 28 450. Each lot comprised six 750ml bottles.

Klein Constantia was represented its famed sweet wine Vin de Constance, a half-dozen bottles of the 97-point 2007 vintage selling for R 22 278, while two bottles of the first release, 1987, received R23 450 each, inclusive of all commissions.

Three bottles of Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 1997 sold for R22 278 while The Journeyman, the Franschhoek cellar’s Cape Bordeaux Red Blend, also featured with two six-bottle lots of the 2015 vintage, selling for R 23 450 and R 25 036. Each of the two lots comprised six 750ml bottles.

See full results here.