Christen Sveaas is well known in the elite world of wine. And now he’s making his first foray into the L.A. scene.
The Norwegian businessman sold selections from his extensive private collection through Christie’s in London in 1997 and through Sotheby’s in New York in 1999. Both cities have long been known as centers for wine trade.
But in a move that exemplifies the increased prominence of Los Angeles as a profitable market for fine wines, he decided to hold his next auction in Beverly Hills. The Auction was scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 3.
For sale are almost 800 lots of wine thousands of bottles. The vintages include a 1787 French claret that is expected to go for between $30,000 and $50,000, and a Bordeaux expected to sell for upwards of $30,000.
“Los Angeles is a young market relative to New York,” said Scott Torrence, Christie’s wine specialist in Los Angeles. “But Southern California retail and restaurants have been huge for distribution of fine and rare wines.”
Los Angeles is still second to New York for wine sales at Christie’s, but in recent years there’s been a substantial increase.
There are eight wine sales per year in New York as compared with three in Los Angeles, but that number is expected to go up, Torrence said.
Another reason L.A. has been a hot spot for Christie’s is its role as a gateway to Asia and South America, Torrence said. It is easier for buyers from those areas of the world to fly to Los Angeles for wines, or to have products shipped to them safely from L.A.
“My collection has been built by buying at auctions, through wine merchants in London and Paris and directly from private cellars for almost 30 years,” Sveaas said. “To arrange the auction in Los Angeles was basically Christie’s choice due to good results last year and closeness to Asian markets.”
Last year, Los Angeles set the worldwide record for the most expensive lot of Bordeaux ever sold at auction. A case of six magnums went for $345,000 to an Asian client. A few weeks ago, Christie’s set another world record price for a lot of Burgundy, again to an Asian client. The auction house sold a case of 12 bottles with a 1990 vintage for $252,000, beating the previous record of $237,000.
When Christie’s first opened its office in Los Angeles 10 years ago, the auction house only sold local California wines. But in 2001, the auction house began selling Bordeaux and Burgundies from all countries. Today, Christie’s wine sales in the L.A. market are mostly foreign wines.
