Will Lyons on Wine: Journeying Into the Heart of Bordeaux – WSJ.com

Despite a slew of astonishing fine-wine sales from the leading auction houses, which saw Bonhams, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and wine auctioneers Acker Merrall & Condit sell more than $300 million £194.4 million worth of wine, 2011 looks to be the year when the boom in Bordeaux‘s finest wines suffered a little indigestion.

Falls were as much as 20% in the last six months of the year, with blue-chip châteaux such as Lafite Rothschild 2008 dropping from around £14,000 for a case last January to around £8,000 today, according to Live-ex’s Fine Wine 100 Index, which tracks the price movement of the world’s 100 most sought-after wines. It’s still a tidy profit for whoever bought it when it was first released in 2009 at around £1,600 a case, but a sharp fall for anyone who purchased last spring.

But a return to pre-2009 vintage prices would be most welcome for the swathe of consumers who have been priced out of the market. It could also have the welcome effect of introducing these spectacular wines to a younger demographic, which hasn’t had the capital or the inclination to explore the classed growths of this fascinating region.

If demand from China and Hong Kong continues, I very much doubt the big names from the glamour appellations such as Pauillac and Margaux, or the communes of Pomerol and Saint-Émilon on the Right Bank will be inclined to drop their prices.

For those looking for that quintessential Bordeaux character of blackcurrant and cedar, which always reminds me of an empty cigar box, and rich, ripe roundness, it is worth casting your net further. Saint-Julien is one appellation that perhaps flounders against the reputation of its neighbors.

via Will Lyons on Wine: Journeying Into the Heart of Bordeaux – WSJ.com.

Strange Random Wine Quote:

“Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” – Sir Francis Bacon (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)

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Klimt landscape fetches $40m – ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A landscape by painter Gustav Klimt that was stolen by the Nazis then returned this year to the family of the Jewish owner has sold for a huge $US40.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

The painting, Litzlberg am Attersee Litzlberg on the Attersee, easily topped its pre-sale high estimate of $US25 million at the impressionist and modern sale.

Depicting a pastoral scene of towering, wooded hills rising from water into a bright sky, the landscape was stolen after the German annexation of Austria in 1938.

It was only returned this year to Georges Jorisch, grandson of the woman who owned it until the Nazis came.

Sotheby’s autumn sale saw stronger results than rival Christies, which had a poor night on Tuesday, with several of the main works, including a Degas bronze sculpture, failing to find buyers.

via Klimt landscape fetches $40m – ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Strange Random Art Quote:

Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don’t like – then cultivate it. That’s the only part of your work that’s individual and worth keeping. – Jean Cocteau

 

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Sotheby’s Unveils 40 Highly Revealing Letters by Rene Magritte

NEW YORK, NY.- On 18 June 2010, Sotheby’s will offer a Highly Important Series of Over Forty Autograph Letters and Postcards from Surrealist master René Magritte to poet Paul Colinet. The correspondence forms an extraordinary record of the artist’s creative process in addition to revealing the literary and artistic influences on his work during the most productive period of his career. Complete with whimsical drawings and sketches, many of which are variations on the artist’s well-known canvases, the cache last appeared on the auction market at Sotheby’s London in 1987, where it was offered in a sale of artifacts from the artist’s studio consigned by his widow. No other significant group of Magritte letters has appeared on the market since.

via Sotheby’s Unveils 40 Highly Revealing Letters by Rene Magritte.

Related video – a documentary about Magritte’s life and work (50 minutes, French Language).

Strange Random Surrealism Quote:

Surrealism: An archaic term. Formerly an art movement. No longer distinguishable from everyday life. – Brad Holland

Surrealism: An archaic term. Formerly an art movement. No longer distinguishable from everyday life. (Brad Holland)

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