More News “Frere buys straight from the chateaux and stores his wines in the cellar of his home in Belgium,†James Reed, a director
in Sotheby’s London-based wine department, said in an interview. “His contacts in the wine trade are second to none and his stocks of great wine don’t seem to have a bottom.†Frere, one of Belgium’s richest men, has a net worth of $2.4 billion, said in its 2009 listing of the world’s billionaires. His wine auctions in 2003 and 2006 raised 822,634 pounds and 1.8 million pounds respectively for his charity. Petrus, Margaux Frere and his family control the publicly traded investment company , with interests in the media, utilities and oil industries. He is co-owner of the Chateau Cheval Blanc vineyard in Bordeaux with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s biggest luxury group. Prices at wine auctions fell by up to 20 percent last November and December during the economic crisis, Reed said. “Since then we’ve had average selling rates of 98 percent at our auctions and totals have routinely hit the mid-estimate,†he said. Asian private buyers secured 49 of the 100 most expensive lots at worldwide wine auctions in 2009, Reed said. A further 10 lots fell to dealers based in Asia, he said.
Demand from Asia has increased since the Hong Kong government scrapped import duty on wine in February 2008. Before February 2007 (when the rate was reduced to 40 percent), the duty had been 80 percent.