Strauss & co - Review 2020

• Nowfully integrated intoStrauss &Co’s twomain saleplatforms, the wine department earned R10.7 million from 12 sales • Despite pandemic-related obstacles, the wine department recorded two white-glove sales • Strauss & Co established a South African wine-auction record when it sold a rare vertical selection of three decades of Kanonkop’s Paul Sauer for R546 240 A year after launching as a standalone auction in 2019, Strauss & Co’s wine department – a collaboration with online retailer Wine Cellar and leading sommelier Higgo Jacobs – is generously delivering on its mission to stimulate demand for high-quality fine wines from South Africa and abroad. Now integrated into Strauss & Co’s marquee live sales and online-only auctions, the fine wine department brought in R10.7 million from 12 sales. This is an outstanding result, even more so in a year of pandemic-related prohibitions against the sale of alcohol. Rather than offering a broad spectrumof wines, this department pursued a themed approach in 2020. The May sale comprised a 115-lot session exploring the influence of Bordeaux wines on South African and international fine wines. The white-glove sale – auction parlance for 100% sales in a session – earned A vintage year for the wine department R2.12 million, far exceeding the initial pre-sale high estimate. The top-selling lot by value was a single bottle of a 100-point 1989-vintage Chateau Pétrus, which was knocked down for R85 350. The best-performing South Africanwinewas a 12-bottle lot of the 1995-vintage Meerlust Rubicon, which also sold above estimate for R45 520. “I am very proud of this emphatic result and what it signals for the South African wine industry during this difficult time in our country’s history,” said Frank Kilbourn after the sale. The sale attracted 533 bidders from over 20 countries, with nearly half of these bidders new and first-time clients for Strauss & Co. In June, Strauss & Co achieved another white-glove sale when all 124 lots representing three highly acclaimed Cape wine growers – Kanonkop, Klein Constantia and Boekenhoutskloof – found buyers. The sale earned R2.2 million and established a new South African wine-auction record when a rare vertical selection of three decades of Kanonkop’s Paul Sauer, South Africa’s most iconic red wine, sold to an online bidder for R546 240. This exceptional offering of 19 large-format bottles of Kanonkop’s signature Bordeaux-style wine attracted considerable interest and eventually sold for double the pre-sale estimate. Kanonkop 3 decades of Paul Sauer, 1988 - 2006 Sold R546 240 48