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Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is going to auction his collection of vintage wines which he stocked up during his 26-year reign at Old Trafford to “distract from the intensity and pressure” of managing the club.
According to Christie’s, who are handling the auction, a pre-sale value of £3 million is being touted for the collection of 5000 bottles along with signed memorabilia which will go under the hammer starting next month.
More than half of Sir Alex’s cellar is believed to be stocked with Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a French Burgundy which is currently in demand, according to Christie’s.
“It’s the wine of the moment in terms of demand,” said David Elswood. “So hopefully that’s going to draw the attention of not just Alex Ferguson fans but wine fans too.”
“Even if you disregard the Alex Ferguson connection the quality of the wine, the type of wine, is generally what sells very strongly in Asia” explained Elswood.
Keeping the Asian buyers’ track record of snapping up the most expensive wines for some years now, Christie’s will be offering 60% of the collection in Hong Kong on May 24th. 30% of the collection will go on sale at London in June with the remaining 10% being sold online.
Sir Alex’s wine cellar has collections from every year of his time at United till he retired in 2013. It includes many varieties from 1999, a year which is special to Ferguson and everyone associated with the club as the team went on to win the Premier LEague, FA Cup and Champions League treble.
“People keep saying, ‘What was the best moment of your life as a manager?’ and ’99 is without question,” Ferguson is quoted as saying in an interview to promote the sale.
“There was always this thing about my career that I never had won the Champions League, so to win it in the way we did win it was absolutely fantastically special. And it coincided with a vintage; you were talking about Romanee-Conti ’99, a really special year. I think we deserved that.”
Ferguson’s interest in collecting wines started on a trip to France in 1991 and the Scot has said many a times in the past that it was a way to keep his mind away from the game and the pressures of his job.
“Taking an interest in wine allowed me to have an interest outside the game. You have to have outside interests to distract you from the intensity and the pressure you come under as a football manager.
“And all of a sudden, two or three years ago, when I’m going through the portfolio, we realise this has got to be an amazing amount of wine. I retired last year, and I thought this was a good time to sell it.”
