Australia's Top 8 Wine Auctions Revealed

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – Wednesday December 7, 2012 -- Wickman's Fine Wine Auctions today released, online, an important summary of the leading wine auction houses in Australia, giving collectors and investors of fine wine a point of reference navigating the secondary wine market. 

"Wine auctions allow sellers and buyers to anonymously negotiate a fair price for uncommon and rare wines in a public marketplace." says auctioneer Mark Wickman. "As is often the case, the value of the wine is known only to the buyer and depends on their tastes and personal experiences and it is the online auctioneers responsibility to manage signals from both the seller and buyer to enable a fair price to be transacted for the goods."

Most online auction sites do this by providing historical price information, gathered from past sales around Australia, and feeding them to potential buyers as estimates. Wickman also sees wine auctions playing a greater role in the wine marketing arena. "Many wineries see the secondary market only as a clearing house for the previous year’s unsold stock. However, a wine auction can be a very strong advocate and influencer for those brands keeping the memory of those wines circulating in the public domain for decades." Wickman said. 

Australia plays only a very minor role within the global secondary fine wine market with the major auction houses such as Christies, Sotheby’s, Zachys and Spectrum wines using Hong Kong as their Asian trading hub. "As a nation, we have never really acquired any quantity of Bordeaux or Burgundy over the years and our main focus has always been on Australian premier wines such as Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace.” Wickman said. “It will never change until such time as the tax regime is reworked to facilitate the importation or passage of ultra fine international wines across our borders.”

The guide is available at:
http://www.wickman.net.au/wineauction/wine-auction-guide.aspx 

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Visit Wickman’s online at www.wickman.net.au

Notes for Editors:

About Wickman Fine Wine Auctions;
Wickman’s have been providing independent market intelligence and advice on the wine auction sector since 2003. It is the only company in Australia with a wealth of proprietary software resources that aggregates key data published by the leading Australian auction houses.

Distinguished by innovation and driven by passion, Wickman’s Fine Wine Auctions has been a lively and profitable meeting ground for wine buyers and sellers since 2003. A family business based in South Australia, Wickman’s prides itself on its position as a reliable resource with a well-spring of extraordinary values and opportunities.

Over the years, Wickman’s has continued to launch unique initiatives in an attempt to set the company apart from traditional online wine auction websites, introducing guaranteed provenance into Australian wine auctions and holding regular wine tasting events and dinners for its members.