September 12, London: it’s the day of the auction “Enoteca Pinchiorri: The Legendary Cellar” by Zachy’s

Tomorrow in London a piece of the history of wine from Italy and the world will be auctioned: it is the day of “Enoteca Pinchiorri: The Legendary Cellar”, the auction with which the most important wine auction house in the United States, Zachy’s, has decided to make its debut in Europe, news reported in recent days in preview by WineNews and which then went around the world.
Under the hammer there is a catalog of 864 lots, for a total of 2,500 bottles (out of the more than 100,000 of Pinchiorri's cellar, editor's note) - and a value, in terms of auction base, of 2 million euros - all coming from the anthological cellar that Giorgio Pinchiorri has built from 1972 to the present day, which together with the haute cuisine directed by his wife Annie Feolde, has made the Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, three stars Michelin, a legend of world catering. An auction that, as Giorgio Pinchiorri himself explained in an open letter, has nothing to do with the situation linked to the pandemic: “the Covid has many faults, but let's not give it the very few that it does not have. Even a teetotaler could imagine that organizing an auction of wines like this, one of the most important ever organized, would take months and months just to understand which wines to choose, how many and how much. At the beginning of 2019 we thought of two great events that could remain in the history of wine and that could bring value to the name of the Enoteca, and what it represented and what it represents. Covid, at least in this case, has nothing to do with it!” writes Pinchiorri, who adds: “I continue to do what I have always done since 1972, that is, I buy (many) wines, and sell them... it is my life”.
And now, therefore, a piece of the life of one of the lords of Italian hospitality and catering (which in 2018 was awarded as “best sommelier in the world” by the association “Les Grandes tables du monde”, which brings together the best 188 restaurants in the world). At auction, of course, many of the most important names in wine in Italy and beyond: the top of the Langhe, starting with the bottles of Barolo Monfortino Riserva Giacomo Conterno 1978 (2,600-3,800 pounds), passing through the six bottles of Barbaresco Sori San Lorenzo Gaja 2015 (1. 200-1,700 pounds) and the two magnums of Barolo Artist Label Bartolo Mascarello 1990 (1,700-2,600 pounds); the great Super Tuscans, such as the 12 bottles of Solaia 2015 (1,900-3,000 pounds), the jeroboam of Tignanello 1978 (1,300-1,900 pounds), both of Antinori, but also the 15 liters of Masseto 2014 (9. 500-14,000 pounds); and again, among the many lots at auction, the 12 bottles of Sassicaia 2016 of Tenuta San Guido (1,400-2,200); and finally, in Montalcino, with the four bottles of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Biondi Santi 1990 (1,400-2,000 pounds).
But the Italian lots are only a minor part, however, of a catalog that mirrors a cellar with strong French connotations, in which there are two magnums of Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux Reserve Henri Jayer 1999 (£60,000-100,000), two bottles of Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1990 (24,000-32,000) and a magnum of Musigny Georges Roumier 1990 (20,000-30). 000 pounds), from Bordeaux six bottles of Pétrus 1961 (30,000-44,000 pounds), nine bottles of Mouton Rothschild 2000 (10,000-15,000 pounds) and six bottles of Lafite Rothschild 1982 (7,500-12. 000 pounds), and from Champagne two magnums of Krug Clos du Mesnil 1996 (6,500-10,000 pounds) and two bottles of Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil 1982 (1,500-2,200), to name the “richest” lots.