Bonhams auctions the wine cellar of the iconic Locanda Locatelli, with great names of Italian wine

It was one of the finest examples of Italian cuisine and haute cuisine in the world, with its award-winning wine list being one of its crowning glories. When Locanda Locatelli, the famous restaurant opened in London in 2002 by chef Giorgio Locatelli and his wife Plaxy Cornelia Exton, his business partner, closed at the beginning of this year, many were disappointed (but the chef will open a new restaurant at the National Gallery, also in the English capital). This restaurant, located in London’s Marylebone neighborhood, was a true benchmark of Italian cuisine, quickly becoming a “cult” thanks to an impeccable reputation built up in a short time. Awarded a Michelin star in 2003, which it maintained for over two decades, Locanda Locatelli combined glamorous and elegant décor with a typically Italian warmth and familiarity. Giorgio Locatelli, who shot to fame as a television personality among the Italian public as a judge on MasterChef Italia since 2018, with staggering ratings, has created a masterpiece with his Locanda restaurant, setting a precedent as a true pioneer of Italian haute cuisine around the world. Haute cuisine, but not only that, because at Locanda Locatelli, wine was treated with the same reverence as food. And now that magic is being revived thanks to a wine auction curated by Bonhams, the prestigious London auction house, which is being held online from today until October 14. It is called “Locanda Locatelli: Iconic Italian wines from a landmark London restaurant” and is a journey through the 40-page wine list, composed mostly of Italian labels and rich in names that have made the history of Italian winemaking.
An abundance of labels, including icons and rare gems, has resulted in a wine list that has won numerous international awards. To give just a few examples, the judges of the “World’s Best Wine Lists” called it “extraordinary” and the “Times” included it among the best in London, and it also won the 2019 “Wine List Confidential Awards”.
Among the more than 400 lots available, to the delight of collectors, the following stand out, in order of price: five bottles of Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva 1997 (estimated at €5,000 to €6,300); six bottles of Masseto 2001, contained in their original wooden case (estimated at €4,400 to €5,700); the vertical of Barbaresco di Gaja consisting of 12 bottles from the 2008-2011 vintages (€3,000-3,900); the vertical of Sassicaia from Tenuta San Guido, with 12 bottles from 1997 to 2015 (€3,000-3,900). Italy, but not only, because among the most highly valued lots there is also Taittinger with its Comtes de Champagne 1996, estimated at between €2,800 and €3,700. But, scrolling through, you will also find other names that have made Italian wine history, such as, just to give a few examples, the Ornellaia vertical, from 1996 to 2016, 12 bottles estimated at between €2,200 and €2,800, or Giuseppe Quintarelli’s Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2011 (€2,200 - €2,800 for six bottles).
But these are just some of the “top” lots from the cellar of a place that, as Bonhams pointed out, “has nourished the bodies, hearts, and souls of over 1.5 million people for more than two decades, and now its cellar delights us once again with great joy”.