LCBO's Director of Corporate Affairs Barry O'Brien, the man behind the fine wine auctions that started in 2002, told me on August 11th that the time-consuming preparation for the 1,000+ lot auction was well underway and that the wine auction's coordinator is now working out of Vintages.
Sellers who may have smuggled or fudged at the border to get their fine wines home will for once be happy about the LCBO's stranglehold on distribution: all the consignments are safely in an LCBO warehouse. Consigners who'd submitted their lots to Ritchies were kept informed of developments but even early on, according to O'Brien, were "not worried at all. In fact one of the main questions we get is 'can I submit more wines?'"
The auction will be held this weekend as originally planned (16th-18th) and will be at Waddingtons Auction House on lower Bathurst St. Some of the top wines on offer include arguably the finest Burgundy of all: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (or, DRC) with a guide price of $4,000, a Chateau Petrus 1964 at around $2,000 and a bottle of the favourite wine of the super-rich: Chateau Le Pin 2000, which has a guide price of $10,500-$12,500.
The Vintages Gala Tasting at the Carlu - the fine wine event of the year in Toronto - has already happened: if you missed it, put it on your list of things to do for ne.
Find out more about the auction and download a PDF of the catalogue.
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