Osaka plans vintage wine auction

OSAKA (Kyodo) The Osaka Municipal Government plans to auction off 157 rare vintage wines next month.

Auctioned off: Bottles of rare vintage wines owned by the Osaka Municipal Government, including Romanee-Conti 1921 (second from right), will be auctioned next month after the city's wine museum closed. KYODO PHOTO

The list of wines released for the Nov. 14 auction in the Osaka World Trade Center Building includes Romanee-Conti 1921, Chateau Leoville Las Cases 1868, Chateau Margaux 1900 and Chateau Petrus 1949. Wine dealers say some could draw bids in excess of ¥1 million.

The city bought the wines for a total of ¥5.65 million for a display at the wine museum of a cultural exchange facility that opened in 1995. But the slumping popularity of the facility forced the museum to close four years ago.

"These vintages are more than mature and could be left unsold," one dealer said. "But some are truly exquisite and you can get them only through famous auctions. The Romanee-Conti could fetch ¥2 million and the Chateau Margaux more than ¥1 million."