Sotheby’s said its global wine and spirits auction sales hit a record $159m in 2023, $1m above the total achieved in the previous year.
It’s the third consecutive year that Sotheby’s has reported record wine and spirits auction sales, despite separate data showing that fine wine prices have fallen on the secondary market in the past 12 months.
Sotheby’s said the number of auction lots offered in 2023 rose by 17% year-on-year. It also highlighted how its wine and spirits department has expanded in the past decade.
Total auction sales were $58m back in 2013, and reached $118m in 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, its figures showed.
‘We sold as many wines and spirits by value in one extraordinary week in 2023, as the whole of 2013,’ said Nick Pegna, who last year became global head of Sotheby’s wine and spirits, succeeding Jamie Ritchie in the role.