News — Wine Collectors

A sale drawn directly from Château Haut-Brion’s cellars has delivered one of early October’s most compelling fine-wine stories. Reported on October 5, the Sotheby’s auction raised €3.4 million and attracted participants from 29 countries, bringing nearly a century of the estate’s history into the collector market.

Christie’s expects the sale to realize at least HK$26 million, or about US$3.31 million. The auction opens the house’s 60th-anniversary celebrations for its Wines and Spirits department, nearly six decades after Christie’s held its first wine auction in London in 1966.

Château Margaux has appointed Aurélien Valance as managing director, with the transition set to take place at the end of 2026. Valance currently serves as deputy managing director for sales and operations at the first-growth Bordeaux estate. He will succeed long-serving Managing Director Philippe Bascaules, who is stepping down and retiring at the end of 2026 after more than three decades associated with the estate, but will stay on as a consultant for key technical periods like harvesting, winemaking, and blending.

The Old Vine Registry has launched the OVR Seal, a global program allowing producers to identify wines made from registered old-vine vineyards on labels, websites, and other marketing materials. The initiative was announced on October 1, 2026.