Fine and Rare Spirits Online: London Edition

Sale Overview

The central highlight of the sale is a bottle of Springbank 1919, 50 Year Old, one of only 24 bottles of this legendary, historic bottling of Springbank.

Also featured is a lot of The Macallan James Bond 60th Anniversary Complete Collection (Decade I–VI), with beautifully designed labels and boxes, offered to benefit The Brit School.

A treasured whisky and cognac collection is presented, with highlights including The Macallan Red Ribbon release (1938, 1940, 1950 and 1957), and a rare trilogy of The Black Bowmore, The White Bowmore and The Gold Bowmore. The Glenfarclas Pagoda Sapphire Reserve, aged 63 years in a single sherry butt, offers an extraordinary tasting profile. Leading the Cognac offering is The Talent of Thomas Hine Grande Champagne Cognac 1914, presented in a Baccarat decanter — the harvest was famously completed by an all-female team of pickers and distillers.

The core of this sale is a glorious whisky collection from a connoisseur. Led by The Macallan, highlights include a Lalique decanter of The Macallan M, 2020 (from fewer than ten casks), The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Cask Distilled in 1985, The Macallan 30 Year Old Fine Oak, and The Macallan Oscuro. Also featured are Glenfiddich 40 Year Old, Talisker 41 Year Old, and Bowmore 30 Year Old Sea Dragon.

A lovely collection of Japanese whisky includes The Hakushu 25 Years, Hibiki 30 Year Old, and The Yamazaki Mizunara 18 Year Old 2017 Edition. Havana Club rum, Martell Cognac, and Bisquit Cohiba Extra Cognac also feature.

We are thrilled to present an extensive and focused collection of The Macallan 18 Year Old, covering a period from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s — a golden era in the development of Macallan’s reputation as the great sherry cask Speyside whisky. These bottles come from the collection of a meticulous Italian connoisseur who assembled them carefully over many years.

An extraordinary collection of ancient spirits from a continental cellar is also on offer, with a particular focus on the greatest Cognacs, including rare 18th-century bottles from Saunier, Bisquit-Dubouche, and Louis Eschenauer. These historic bottles reach back to the pre-revolutionary period in France and represent history itself.

Romano Levi’s grappa occupies a unique place in the world of distilled spirits, celebrated for its rarity and deeply artisanal production. We are thrilled to present an extraordinary collection of 49 lots of this exceptionally rare spirit — every bottle is hand-crafted.

Auction times

13 Nov 10:00 AM (GMT)

Brought to you by

Noah May

Head of Wine and Spirits EMEA | Wine & Spirits

Noah joined Christie’s London Wine Department in 2007, after graduating from The University of Leeds with an honors degree in English Literature and Philosophy. Noah has been involved in several high-profile wine auctions in Europe, including the sale of Historic Cognacs from the Private Cellars of La Tour d’Argent in 2012 and the sale of Fine Wines from the Private Collection of Sir Alex Ferguson CBE in 2014. In May 2013, Noah was awarded the British Guild of Food Writers Award for Food Writer of the Year for various publications relating to wine and gastronomy. In September 2014, Noah joined Christie’s New York Wine Department, where he worked as Head of Sale, focused on building relationships with American collectors, the sourcing of rare wines and spirits for auctions in the US and Europe, sale curation and specialist wine events. In June 2018, Noah returned to Christie’s London Wine Department as Head of Department and is mainly focused on developing Christie’s Wine Department’s profile in the UK and across Europe, sourcing exceptional collections of Wines and Spirits for sale, inspection and authentication of property and building long-term relationships with collectors around the world. Noah’s professional interests include the fine wines of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rioja, and the rare spirits market, with a focus on collectible whisky.

Edwin Vos

International Head of Department | Wine & Spirits

After graduating from Hotel Management School Edwin Vos started working in the wine trade where he held various positions buying and selling fine wines. From 1998 he commenced by noting all the fine Bordeaux, Burgundy, Madeira and Vintage Port wines in a personal database. From 2002 Edwin started visiting the annual primeur tastings in Bordeaux, during these extensive tastings of all the grand crus’s of the young vintage he has built up a wide reference and experience of fine Bordeaux wines.

During the Fête de la Fleur 2007, Edwin was introduced in the exclusive Commanderie de Bontemps de Medoc, Graves, Sauternes et Barsac. The introduction of Blandy’s Madeira on the Dutch market in 2009 was a personal passion where Edwin has greatly contributed to the on-going success of this category.

In 2012 Edwin joined Christie’s as Head of the Amsterdam Wine Department bringing with him more than 15 years of wine trade experience. After a year and a half he focused his attention to assisting the London, New York and Hong Kong sales. Following his knowledge and connections on Madeira Edwin has started to annually set up selective offerings of old and rare Madeira for all our global auctions. These have attracted a loyal following and are showing great success. Meanwhile breaking multiple world records for Madeira’s on sale. Christie’s remains the number one specialist in this field.

Under Edwin’s management in 2015 the exclusive bi-annual Geneva wine sales were successfully re-introduced. With Bouchard Pere & Fils he has set up a great single owner auction in 2016 offering reserve wines coming directly from their Chateau de Beaune cellars. To this day this remains the largest offering of old Burgundies coming direct from the producer’s cellars. The Historic Comte de Vogue auction that followed in May 2018 is a record for this sought after Burgundy producer and among the most elusive direct from the producers sales. He worked closely with the team at de Vogue to bring this auction to life. Edwin is a member of the Christie’s Wine executive team and has started auctioneering in 2017.

Tim Triptree MW

International Director, Specialist | Wine & Spirits

Tim Triptree MW is International Director, Wine at Christie’s. Tim’s main role is curating, sale planning and execution of Christie’s wine auctions internationally. Based at Christie’s London, his role includes sourcing consignments, inspection and authentication, developing client relations and hosting wine events and master-classes. Following an initial career in banking, Tim became interested in wine whilst living in Mendoza, Argentina studying Spanish and completing a sommelier course. Tim joined Christie’s Wine Department in 2005 after graduating with an MBA Distinction (Wine Business Management). He completed the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma, gaining a Distinction in 2008 being awarded the Sherry Institute Scholarship and Constellation Scholarship, which involved wine visits to Jerez and New Zealand respectively. Tim was awarded the Trinity Champagne Scholarship in 2009 from the Institute of Masters of Wine and became a Master of Wine in September 2018. His Research Paper was on the use of reserve wines in Brut NV Champagne and has a specific interest in Champagne, as well as Rhône, Burgundy and Bordeaux. Tim has been a wine judge at the International Wine & Spirit Competition since 2011, a Panel Judge at Decanter World Wine Awards 2017/2018 and at Bacchus Wine 2018 in Madrid.

In January 2013, Tim was seconded to Christie’s Hong Kong for four years focusing efforts on raising the department’s profile in the region as well as involvement with wine auctions in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He became Head of Sale, Hong Kong before returning to London in January 2017 and was promoted to International Director in June 2018.

Charles Foley

Specialist | Wine & Spirits

Charlie joined Christie’s in 2014 after working for a fine wine merchant in the City. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he achieved 1st Class Honours in Classics, specializing in the ancient wine trade in Rome and Greece. He has worked for vineyards in South Africa and Argentina and won a scholarship to attend the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Turkey and subsequently also travelled with the Conference to Rioja. He has completed his WSET Diploma and has been pleased to work on auctions at Christie’s such as the Avery Family Collection, the Cellars of the Earl of Halifax and Wines from the Malbec Family Collection.

Charlotte Sère

Associate Specialist | Wine & Spirits

Charlotte joined the Christie’s Wine Department in London in the spring of 2018 having worked in the wine trade in London for several years. Charlotte manages the cataloguing processes and as a Specialist is involved in sourcing collections, negotiating consignments and auctioneering in London and internationally. Charlotte has been a driving force in several Single Owner auctions including The Chalk Cellar, The Wine Cellar of Le Gavroche and The Avery Family Collection. Charlotte works closely with clients in the UK and throughout Europe and is fluent in English and French. Charlotte holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of London, her professional interests include the wines of Bordeaux and Alsace.

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