Wines & Spirits

The £7.6m sale of ‘The Ultimate Whisky Collection’ at Sotheby’s in London on October 24 included a single bottle sold for £1.2m (plus 21% premium).

When the 8000-ton cargo ship SS Politician left Liverpool for Jamaica and New Orleans in 1941 it was carrying 28,000 cases of malt whisky. Two days later it sank in the Outer Hebrides.

A sample of vintage bottles of Scotch whisky tested in a Scottish laboratory has been found to be fake.

A hand painted bottle of 1926 60-year-old Macallan whisky sold for a hammer price of £1m at auction, equating to around £48,000 per single shot.

Lyon & Turnbull is to launch regular, dedicated whisky sales at its Edinburgh saleroom as the sector reaches an “all-time high”.

From wine and whisky to handbags and Hermés scarves, luxury auctions can be a chance to indulge in something extra special – sometimes at affordable prices. A series of sales across the UK this month look likely to have buyers bidding on choice pieces, with a few a little out of the ordinary.

Whisky bottles decorated with illustrations by pop artists Valerio Adami and Sir Peter Blake set records at Bonhams’ Fine and Rare Wine and Whisky auction in Hong Kong.

The festive season is upon us and many will be sampling their favourite tipples. Auction houses typically take advantage of this time of year to offer special sales of wines and spirits; and Duke’s in Dorchester is doing just that later this week.

English wines are steadily gaining a reputation for decent quality, with sparkling styles in particular starting to challenge Champagne as an alternative patriotic option. Back in 1889, it was Welsh whisky throwing the gauntlet down to Scotland in the hope of supping long-running success.

If a Chanel snow globe, a Fabergé bracelet or a blue table by Yves Klein are on the list for Father Christmas this year then head to Christie’s Paris showroom this weekend.

In the run-up to the US election on November 8, Frances Allitt takes a look at the objects previous presidents borrowed, bought – and sometimes broke.

The Cellar of William I Koch 'White Glove' auction fetches a record-breaking £14.9m at Sotheby’s New York

Auction houses selling wine, whisky and other alcoholic drinks to other businesses face criminal convictions and fines up to £10,000 if they fail to register for a new HMRC scheme that aims to police the sale of alcohol to retailers and capture an estimated £1.2bn in unpaid tax.

A fine 1875 vintage… never opened… so what did this bottle of wine sell for?

Sotheby's have made their first foray into the wine retail market by opening their first wine store in Hong Kong.