The Barossa Wine Auction – held every two years in partnership with Langton’s – is always serious business, containing some of the rarest and most treasured Barossa wines on offer that are not available anywhere else. (Did someone say a double magnum of 2015 Grange?!)
Bidders compete both locally and from around the world to take home the coveted lots available. And this year, for the first time, there was three ways they could do so – with live auction events in both the Barossa and Sydney and an online auction too.
While expectations were certainly optimistic, it was also incredibly hard to predict how things were going to go this year due to the unprecedented 12 months we’ve all just lived through. So it was a gleeful shock to all involved when the 2021 Barossa Wine Auction smashed it out of the ball park.
With sales reaching just over $333,700 the 2021 Barossa wine auction has beaten all previous records, achieving the highest sales result in the event’s 56-year history!
Much of this success can be attributed to the bold move by Barossa Grape & Wine Association to include, for the first time, a second live event outside the Barossa – in Sydney. Because at the Sydney event, things went NEXT LEVEL.
Held last Thursday 29 April, a ballroom filled with Barossa wine loving guests were hosted by members of the Barossa wine community and MC Jane Thomson (FLWS founder) at the Hyatt Regency, Sydney for a live auction and gala dinner. The atmosphere in the room was electric as bidding wars erupted across the floor. At one point the enthusiasm was so high bidding paddles were snapped! (True story!)
Baron of Barossa and Wine Auctioneer since 1984, Andrew Caillard MW noted it was “the best live auction I have ever presided over. It’s absolutely brilliant to see such support for Barossa. This is going to go down as one of the most memorable wine auctions ever held in Australia.”
The financial results speak for themselves, with bidding totals in Sydney exceeding the top estimates by over $60,000!
Highlights included: (all sales figures include buyer’s premium)
- Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Double Magnum 2015 $22,135
- Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 2010 Imperial $11,650
- Standish Wine Co The Standish Shiraz Imperial 2003 $6,990
- John Duval Wines Entity Shiraz 6 Magnum Collection 2004, 2015, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2017 $3,495
- Torbreck The Laird Shiraz Imperial 2013 $15,145
The online auction also reached record success, achieving a clearance rate of 82%, up from an estimate of 70%.
BGWA Chief Executive, James March commented: “The entire Barossa grape and wine community should be wholly encouraged by the fantastic results that were achieved. The atmosphere was electric as the spirited bidding received rounds of spontaneous applause as the hammer fell on each lot. You couldn’t help but feel there was a real sense of confidence in the pedigree of the lots being presented and this flowed through to the prices achieved, which exceeded everyone’s expectations.”
Let’s hear it for the resilience of the Barossa, hey?! Host Jane Thomson spoke at the Sydney event about the resilience of the Barossa community, with a focus on the role that women have played. It was joyous to see such resilience once again on show as the Barossa demonstrated that while the drought, pandemic and closing of global export markets over the last 18 months have been tough – Australia’s most internationally recognised wine region is still breaking records and commanding the attention it deserves.
