US becomes top-selling Sotheby’s location for first time in a decade

America trumped the rest of the world at auction last year, with the number of US bidders doubling, according to the latest Sotheby's Wine & Spirits Market Report. Meanwhile, French bidders are now spending just as much as those from Hong Kong. db reports.  There are a few golden missives which prove invaluable in taking the temperature of the drinks trade, providing insights into who's buying (or not buying) what, and where, and for how much. One such resource is the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Industry Report, and the Wine & Spirits Market publication from eponymous auction house Sotheby's is another. The latest Sotheby's report, released today, provides analysis mined from 61 auctions across 10 different countries, amounting to 21,398 lots sold. Crucially, its findings shine a light on ways in which the tastes and habits of fine wine buyers are changing. For example, one of the key (but perhaps unsurprising) findings is that Bordeaux sales are slipping.

Bordeaux sales slipping

While Bordeaux, Burgundy and spirits sales "remain by far the dominant and leading categories, 2024 showed a peak in interest from collectors for other regions, particularly with sales of California and Spain wines that more than doubled, as well as continued growth for Italy and Rhône wines," the report states. Bordeaux wine sales have nearly halved in 11 years, falling from 60% of total Sotheby's sales in 2013 to just 34% in 2024. Meanwhile, Burgundy wines sales have crept up from 26% to 34% within the same timeframe. However, the biggest revelation from the latest Sotheby's report is arguably that the US has become the most prolific bidder at fine wine auctions, with the number of bidders from America doubling between 2023 and 2024, and the US spending more than any other country on lots.

US bidders lead the way

For the first time in a decade, New York rivalled Hong Kong as the top selling location for Sotheby's, with the Big Apple achieving its second-highest sales total ever in 2024 at US$28 million compared with Hong Kong's US$14 million. Furthermore, last year put French bidders on an equal footing with Hong Kong, (both spent US$14 million), but America was the number one country by far for spend at auction. The number of US buyers doubled last year compared to Hong Kong, reflecting "a substantial increase" from the previous year when US buyers were just 18% ahead of the autonomous Chinese region. However, according to the 2024 report, market distribution is now nearly evenly split between Asia, the Americas, and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), which Sotheby's calls "a historic milestone".

Japanese whisky shines

There was plenty, too for Japan to celebrate, with Japanese whisky brand Karuizawa achieving for the first time, the most valuable lot of the year, with US$372,684 fetched for a single bottle of its 52-year-old Karuizawa 1960. A further four Karuizawa products made it into the Top 10 spirits lots of 2024, including three separate lots of 36 bottles apiece of Mount Fuji, and two bottles of The Last Masterpiece (a 50 Year Old Black Label and White Label). However, overall The Macallan continues to hold the top spirits ranking for Sotheby's, generating 18% of the auction house's total spirit sales last year compared with Karuizawa's 17%. Kweichow Moutai came a close third, accounting for 15% of total spirits sales. While buyers from Asia represented more than half of the spirits market for Sotheby's, US buyers were again the biggest spenders by country, forking out US$7million on fine and rare spirits last year compared to its nearest rival Hong Kong at US$5 million. One significant US purchase in 2024 was 12 bottles of 20 Year Old Family Reserve Single Barrel Pappy Van Winkle whiskey for US$162,000, which sold in New York. Not included in the 2024 report as the sale did not take place until March 2025, was another bottle from the same Bourbon producer. A single, ultra-rare bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle, smashed Sotheby's record when it sold for US$125,000 – two and a half times it high pre-sale estimate.