Sotheby’s is honored to present Rare Domaine de la Romanée-Conti from the Personal Cellar of Robert Drouhin in a dedicated auction of 100 lots on 13 October 2018 in New York. This historic offering of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is emerging after more than 50 years in the cellar of Mr. Robert Drouhin, patriarch of the family-run Maison Joseph Drouhin, who is internationally recognized as one of the wine industry’s most renowned figures.Many of the labels are covered in dust, fading and peeled partly away, but beneath the worn exteriors is highly sought after, richly complex Burgundies that are rarely available on the market.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
“There really is no normal opportunity to buy these wines,” said Serena Sutcliffe, Sotheby’s Wine’s honorary chairman, and a Master of Wine.
Around 1928, Maurice Drouhin, a producer in the heart of Burgundy, struck an agreement with the owners of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti to be the sole distributor of their esteemed Burgundy throughout France and Belgium.
To say wines by the producer DRC, as it is known, are esteemed is not overreaching. Last year Sotheby’s sold $11.7 million of DRC wine, the highest level of sales from any single producer for the fifth consecutive year. At a New York auction last year, Sotheby’s sold six bottles for $134,750—that’s nearly $22,460 a bottle.
Maurice and his son Robert Drouhin acquired several DRC bottles as a result of their arrangement with their fellow Burgundy producer, “which explains why we still have in our cellar so many of these pre-war wines,” says Robert Drouhin, Maurice’s son, and the patriarch of Maison Joseph Drouhin, one of the largest estates in Burgundy.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
