Andrew Lloyd Webber's wine collection sold for 5.6 million dollars

Jan 22, 2011, 13:31 GMT

Hong Kong - A wine collection owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber sold for 5.6 million dollars in Hong Kong Saturday, auctioneers Sotheby's said.

The 748 lots owned by the 62-year-old British composer famous for Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Evita, fetched 1.5 million dollars above the highest pre-auction estimates.

The six-hour sale of fine French wines included a 1982 Bordeaux and a Domaine de la Romanee Conti red burgundy, and attracted a packed room as well as telephone and internet bidders, Sotheby's said.

'I hope the new owners enjoy my wines as much as I have and look forward to reacquainting myself with them in restaurants all over China when Cats starts its national tour in Mandarin,' Lloyd Webber said in a statement.

Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby's international wine department, said, 'This was a tremendously exciting sale, which reflected the great quality and range of Andrew Lloyd Webber's cellar.'

Hong Kong has this year emerged as the world centre for wine auctions, outselling London and New York combined, according to Sotheby's and Christie's.

More than 60 per cent of the world's best wines are now bought by Asian collectors through Hong Kong auctions. Experts estimated that Hong Kong residents own 18 per cent of the world's rare and fine wines.

Saturday's sale was the 12th consecutive Sotheby's wine auction in Asia over the past 21 months in which every lot has been sold, the auction house said.

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