Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday. This story is also part of a new series on the convergence of art and luxury. See all of our reporting on the topic here.
The wine market is in flux. After years of rising prices, fueled by low interest rates, global demand, and a pandemic-era rush into collectible assets, previously coveted bottles can now be bought at auction for a snip compared with just a few years ago. The speculative boom has faded, estimates have become more realistic, and collectors who once competed aggressively for rare Burgundy and Bordeaux wines are taking their time. It’s a buyers’ market. Sound familiar?
Amid the post-pandemic mania for luxury collectibles, Sotheby’s wine and spirits department achieved a record $132 million in sales in 2021. Christie’s similarly posted its best results ever for wine and spirits sales. (Phillips doesn’t sell wine.) The current demand for wine, though, is behaving a lot like today’s appetite for art. Buyers are still chasing exceptional lots—like the fresh-to-market masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection that carried the May marquee sales—but they are far less interested in everything else. Sotheby’s sale of Joe Lewis’s collection in London last month showed the power of a great story and impeccable ownership history. Fine wine is seeing the same divide, as trophy bottles and standout cellars continue to attract competition, while the broader market resets.
Other trends, like buyers being less willing to wait for wine to age before drinking it, are also shaping the market. Collecting is fast becoming “drinking,” and younger buyers are increasingly seeking “experiences,” like meeting winemakers and touring vineyards.
At the end of June, I saw this dynamic play out in Burgundy, where I joined Sotheby’s head of wine auctions in France, Célian Ravel d’Estienne, for a VIP dinner and charity auction. Part of the 18th Musique & Vin au Clos Vougeot festival, the event was, naturally, accompanied by top-notch wine. Proceeds from the sale will be used to buy musical instruments and give financial scholarships to help talented young musicians launch their careers. Patronage in these parts runs deep: the historical vineyards of the local Hospices de Beaune estate were built through centuries of donations, and the proceeds from its annual auction in November have long funded the local hospital.
The five-course dinner was at the 12th-century Château du Clos de Vougeot. We were driven there through the vineyard in a sleek convoy of black cars after watching a performance of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major in the idyllic town of Beaune. The air-conditioned cabs were like heaven after the heatwave had turned the massive concert hall into a sauna.
Just as oil money transformed and modernized the Gulf into city-states of gleaming skyscrapers, centuries of wine money have polished this rural corner of Burgundy into an agri-luxury oasis. I was surprised both by how many American and Chinese oenophiles had flown in, and by how young they were. Tech and finance bros rubbed shoulders with old-money, blue-blooded Burgundians. There was also a cohort of local vignerons, whose understated practicality was a welcome juxtaposition to the occasionally conspicuous wealth of the international collector crowd. The roughly 400 guests were rowdy, and several were asking for photos alongside the vignerons, who were treated like rock stars.
The auctioneer for the evening charity sale, George Lacey—Sotheby’s head of luxury business in Asia—did well to make himself heard over the din. He hammered down almost €300,000 from just 14 lots, and there were probably only 20 people bidding in the hall. The coinciding online sale of 51 lots raised a little under €200,000 (before fees). Among the top bottles was a magnum of Domaine Leflaive, Bâtard-Montrachet 2013 (including a wine tasting for four people) for €46,000.
Given that the sale was for a charity and guests were well lubricated, bidders were likely more generous than they might be in a conventional sale. (Sotheby’s also slashed its fees for the night to benefit the cause.) The partnership with Musique & Vin au Clos Vougeot puts Sotheby’s at the heart of the ultra-high-net-worth community of wine collectors—many of whom buy art and other luxury assets. The house also gets to strengthen ties with the wine producers who are a vital cog in that industry’s growing experiential economy.
As we knocked back Grand Cru after Grand Cru served relentlessly by an ultra-attentive fleet of servers, Ravel d’Estienne told me that buyers at this level are looking for “quality” and the “story behind the wine.” And while the market has cooled, that doesn’t mean people aren’t still buying.
“The frenzy has gone, but the passion is still there,” d’Estienne said. “Collectors are not leaving the market, they are just looking for the right bottles, at the right price … You need to give them a reason to raise their paddle.”
Sotheby’s recent wine sale results reflect strong demand at the top end, alongside a softer market for newer releases. Ravel d’Estienne said the primary market—particularly en primeur wines sold directly from producers before bottling—has been facing greater pressure as collectors become less willing to commit capital years before they can enjoy the wine. Storing wine takes up space and can cost money if you’re renting a warehouse. Not everyone owns a wine cellar.
“The primary market is still very tough,” he told me. “Pricing is high, and it’s very difficult to go back down.”
But there have been some recent successes. In May, Sotheby’s “Immortal Vintages | 200 Years of Bordeaux” sale in New York achieved $2.1 million, more than double its low estimate of $850,000. In Hong Kong, the house’s first “Wine & Spirits Festival Week” generated $13 million in sales, with lots averaging 130 percent against their low estimates.
Christie’s is seeing a similar shift among its own clients. Like Ravel d’Estienne, Adam Bilbey, the house’s global head of wine, spirits, and private sales, told me that the market has become more discerning, with collectors increasingly focused on wines that offer a deeper connection to their origin and history.
“There is a new generation of buyers,” Bilbey said. “They’re collecting it in a different way. They don’t necessarily want to age wines for 20 to 30 years. Instead, these collectors are looking for wines they can experience now. They want bottles connected to producers, places, and stories. Everybody wants to meet the winemaker. Everybody wants to go to the winery. That’s just your next step. You start collecting wine, and the next thing you want to do is go to the winery, meet the producer, and understand the story.”
This thirst for access and experience has become a central focus of the current luxury market, and the houses are increasingly acting as intermediaries between collectors and the world surrounding the objects they buy.
Sotheby’s global head of wine and spirits, Nick Penga, told me on the phone that the house has been organizing off-menu, ad hoc wine tastings and vineyard tours for its VIP clients, and even connecting them with famous vignerons to help them age barrels bought at auction.
Christie’s wine sales between 2020 and 2025 saw the number of bidders and buyers rise by 43 percent. Over the same period, hammer and premium revenue climbed from $50.2 million in 2020 to $88.8 million—a 76.9 percent increase. Obviously, these numbers include the post-Covid boom years, so they should not be read as evidence that the market has returned to its pandemic-era peak. Instead, they point to the enduring depth of demand for top wines, even as collectors have become more selective about what they buy and how much they are willing to pay.
But beneath the glamour of Burgundy’s wine culture, winemakers are facing serious challenges. Younger generations are drinking less, and climate change is forcing producers to rethink centuries-old assumptions about how and where wine is made. During a tour of the Hospices de Beaune vineyards the day after the charity auction, Ludivine Griveau, the estate’s régisseur and winemaker, described the impact recent heatwaves have had on the vines. Her burden is to produce exceptional wine to finance Beaune’s hospital, so the pressure is intense.
Christie’s Bilbey, though, remains optimistic, despite the challenges, arguing that ultimately, lowering consumption may not necessarily be a threat. Instead, collectors appear to be moving toward fewer bottles, better-quality wine, and stronger connections to its makers.
“People are drinking less, but they’re drinking better,” he told me. “They might not drink Monday to Thursday, but on a Friday night they want to open that really good bottle of wine.”
Sotheby’s latest announcement, released Wednesday, shows how the wine auction market is evolving. On October 1 in Paris, the house will sell almost 700 lots sourced directly from the cellars of Château Haut-Brion, celebrating 90 years of Dillon family ownership. Yet the draw is not just the bottles. The sale will also include bespoke experiences that give collectors access to the estate, its history, and the people behind the wine.
“Collectors are increasingly seeking wines with impeccable provenance and direct château origin, and this sale represents one of the most compelling opportunities we have ever brought to market,” Penga said.
