O n Saturday, March 13, at 1:00 or immediately following Rare Whisky & Cognac Live | The Macallan “Anecdotes of Ages” + Bo Johnston Collection, Sotheby’s Wine is delighted to present a dedicated sale featuring an outstanding selection of wines from The Taylor Cellars | Burgundy, Bordeaux, Napa. The collection is notable for its scale and quality, led by a selection of coveted Burgundy from Domaine Armand Rousseau, including exceedingly rare magnums, spanning three decades, followed by Leroy stretching back to the historic 1991 vintage. Petrus carries the flag for Bordeaux, showcasing bottles of the monumental 1989 and 1990. Napa Valley cult legends also figure prominently, led by Screaming Eagle, Bond, Insignia, and Schrader, alongside relative New World ‘newcomers.’ The wines were acquired from reputable sources and stored meticulously in temperature- and humidity-controlled cellars.
| THE CELLARS | THE INSPECTION | ||
| The majority of wines in this sale are from two architecturally designed, primary residential cellars, both maintaining impeccable cellar temperature and humidity. The balance of wines were removed from professional wine storage. | In January of this year, a team of Sotheby’s Wine specialists spent over a week in both cellars, inspecting and cataloguing each bottle. The wines were then shipped by temperature-controlled truck to the Sotheby’s East Coast warehouse. |
Charles Rousseau was not only one of the most engaging men you will ever find in Burgundy, he was also a fantastic wine-maker. His total respect for the raw material, plus a real gift for coaxing out superb scent and lovely flavour, have left us with decades of stunning Rousseau wines. Now, Eric Rousseau follows in these illustrious footsteps. When you taste in the Rousseau cellar, each and every characteristic of all the Premiers and Grands Crus sings out, even in cask. Without a doubt, some of my most lasting Burgundian memories centre on this Domaine.
– Serena Sutcliffe, MW
First produced by the Domaine in 1964, but the first vintage to be released was 1965. This small holding in the famed vineyard produces an average of only 250 cases of this extraordinary powerful and complex wine which is keenly sought after by collectors and creates an atmosphere of excitement whenever it appears at auction.
– Serena Sutcliffe, MW
The very word Petrus creates a "frisson" unlike any other wine name - and the liquid in the glass induces a dream- like silence as its enormous, almost roasted flavour envelops the palate. The sheer exoticism of this revered vineyard, where clay combines with Merlot to make something wildly heady, needs to be experienced by everyone once in their life (preferably many more times!). Petrus does not taste like other Bordeaux - it is not "classic" but stupendously original, full of oriental spice box flavours which unfold endlessly. A one-off wine that inhabits a world of its own and, of course, a rarity due to its small (11.5 hectares) size.
– Serena Sutcliffe, MW
This sale features an outstanding display of Napa’s best, in a variety of formats, in landmark years, including Screaming Eagle (2004 - 2017); Schrader (2004 - 2013); Shafer (1995 - 2015); Joseph Phelps “Insignia” (2001 - 2013); Ridge (2009 - 2015); alongside relative ‘newcomers’ Futo, Lokoya and Continuum.
