How to be sure the wine matches the label(2)
Spectrum Wine Auctions
Spectrum withdrew a number of bottles with the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti label from its London auction last week, due to "apparent label discrepancies."
The red flag was originally raised by Los Angeles-based collector Don Cornwell. Mr. Cornwell, who also happens to be a lawyer, completed his own detective work when he viewed Spectrum's wine catalog and noticed several incongruities in the labels of some of the rarest and most sought-after Burgundy wines. He posted his concerns, in forensic detail, on the forum of Internet wine site wineberserkers.com. This alerted Corney & Barrow, who then raised the issue with Spectrum. Among these concerns was the observation that on a bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1978, which had an estimate of £6,000, a label on the shoulder of the shipper, Percy Fox, misspelled the address as "Sackvilee Street" rather than Sackville Street.
"It is concerning to see a label on which the then-London address of Percy Fox & Co. is misspelled," says Simon Lawson, general manager of Diageo-owned Percy Fox, which was the official U.K. agent for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti until 1993. "Our suggestion would be that any wine which displays labeling errors like this are referred to the domaine for verification before being offered for sale."
In the auction catalog, Spectrum and Vanquish say all of their wines were carefully inspected and vetted by their team of international experts, who spent long hours meticulously scrutinizing each detail of every consignment. They also added, in a statement, that the wines were withdrawn "through an abundance of caution and in line with our commitment to excellence in due-diligence and verification," so that the issues could be properly investigated. At the time of writing, Spectrum President Jason Boland says the investigation is ongoing. Mr. Brierley adds: "We are committed to resolving the matters raised and having the relevant producers involved in that process."
But the incident does raise questions as to the provenance of old and rare fine-wine bottles coming onto the market, especially viewed in the present context of fine-wine prices. "Clearly there is a problem," says Corney & Barrow Managing Director Adam Brett-Smith, and "clearly it needs addressing." The withdrawn lots didn't stop staggering sums being paid for rare wines at the Spectrum and Vanquish wine auction. A three-liter Jeroboam of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1990 sold for £40,250, while a single bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti from 1945 fetched £28,750. These are sums that could only be dreamed of two decades ago. I wonder how much the empties would sell for.
