Great Tokaj Wine Auction over 100 000 euros
Buyers from around the world keen to procure their exclusive barrel of Tokaji wine arrived to Sárospatak Castle for the Confrérie de Tokaj’s third Great Tokaj Wine Auction on 25th April – and brought a final hammer price of € 100 415. This increase of around 10 % continues the upwards trend of the first two auctions (€ 67 500 in 2013, € 90 433 in 2014). Three quarters of the lots were sold and several lots more than doubled from the starting price. The most expensive wine? Once again a Szepsy Furmint, Úrágya 91 Tokaji Furmint 2014. Lively bidding nearly tripled its starting price of € 5,318 to € 16,620. Details about all the lots are below.
Increased competition for lots was noticable this year, and 40 % of lots were sold outside Hungary to the USA, France and Germany. An interesting development is the growing number of buyers’ groups which offer a wider audience the chance to obtain part of a limited lot, alongside the traditional larger buyers which include individuals, top restaurants and wine merchants/importers. The wines, many single-vineyard, are unique barrel lots in limited quantities and will be bottle with the Confrérie auction label before the 2016 Auction.
The Great Tokaj Wine Auction is the highlight of the three-day Tokaj Spring event staged around the wines of the region; guests had the opportunity to taste around 70 wines from 30 wineries. Top local restaurants Sárga Borház, Gusteau and Anyukám mondta created the culinary treats and, as well as wine dinners, talks and vineyard tours with the winemakers, quirky events and venues included the Royal Waiting Room of Eiffel’s Nyugati station Budapest, the Tokaj Express heritage train, and even a horse and cart ride to the vineyard. Other highlights were the blind tasting of auction lots and an imaginative presentation of paintings inspired by the labels of gala dinner wines dreamed up by well-known auctioneer and new Confrérie member Nóra Winkler.
Around 150 wine professionals and lovers make up the Confrérie de Tokaj which welcomed 22 new members on Saturday 25th. Grand Maître, Tamás Dusóczky, initiated these Tokaj lovers, most from Hungary and France, but also from the US, Taiwan and Finland. This international group of wine journalists, merchants, doctors, managers, architects, winemakers and sommeliers all expressed their sincere affection for Tokaj and its wines. Guests at the initiation ceremony in the stunning garden of Barta Winery were treated to soprano Katalin Gémes whose sounds filled the air and hearts of those assembled before the gala dinner at Gusteau.
This was a sunny wine weekend, the air filled with the heady scents of lilac and Tokaji wine. The perfect background for a successful Great Tokaj Wine Auction. Tokaj Spring 2016, with the next Great Tokaj Wine Auction, will be held 22-24th April 2016.
The lots sold in the order they went under the hammer at the Great Tokaj Wine Auction 2015:
(136 l-barrel unless noted otherwise, exchange based on HUF/EUR: 300.85, MNB 2015.04.24. )
Demetervin – Úrágya Tokaji Hárslevelű 2006 (33.75 l)
starting price: € 1,463, hammer price: € 2,493
Mádi Borház-Baranyai Béla – 102-es hordó Tokaji Furmint 2012
starting price: € 598, hammer price: € 1,529
Samuel Tinon Grands Vins de Tokaj – Szent Tamás Furmint 2014
starting price: € 2,659, hammer price: € 4,986
Szepsy Winery – Úrágya 91 Tokaji Furmint 2014
starting price: € 5,318, hammer price: € 16,620
Barta Winery – Öreg-Király Tokaji Édes (Sweet) Szamorodni 2013 (68 l)
starting price: € 3,324, hammer price: € 4,653
Füleky Winery – Király Tokaji Late Harvest 2014
starting price: € 3,656, hammer price: € 3,989
Samuel Tinon Grands Vins de Tokaj – Tokaji Száraz (Dry) Szamorodni 2009
starting price: € 6,648, hammer price: € 9,972
Szent Tamás Winery and Vineyard, Nyulászó /1-es Hordó Tokaji Édes (Sweet) Szamorodni 2013
starting price: € 9,307, hammer price: € 13,296
Kvaszinger, Hatalos Tokaji Late Harvest 2013
starting price: € 3,989, hammer price: € 5,983
Béres Vineyards and Winery, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos Válogatás 2013 (68 l)
starting price: € 4,321, hammer price: € 4,986
Samuel Tinon Grands Vins de Tokaj, Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos 2011 (68 l)
starting price: € 4,986, hammer price: € 4,986
Disznókő, Dorgó Válogatás Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2012
starting price: € 6,315, hammer price: € 9,972
Pajzos Winery, Hosszúvölgy Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2013
starting price: € 7,313, hammer price: € 11,301
Tokaj-Hétszőlő Winery, Tokaji Édes (Sweet) Szamorodni 2012
starting price: € 5,651, hammer price: € 5,651
The Confrérie de Tokaj receives 40 % of the after tax price to part finance the next auction and for the benefit of the Tokaj wine region, part of UNESCO World Heritage since 2002.
