Balthasar Ress Achieves Second Highest Rate of Increase

The Rheingau VDP's (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates) annual autumn auction on 23 September at Kloster Eberbach drew an exceptionally large crowd. Some 580 guests followed the bidding as 56 wines came under the hammer. In all, some 5,389 bottles of wines changed hands at an average price of 31,48 Euro. The highest rate of increase between an opening and closing bid was 500 percent. The Hattenheim wine estate Balthasar Ress was not far behind - it achieved a rate of increase of 480 percent.

The estate's 2005 Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese fetched this sensational result. It was assessed at 100,00 Euro (0.75-liter) and 50,00 Euro (0.375-liter) for opening bids. Full-sized bottles changed hands for 580,00 Euro, and the half bottles for 290,00 Euro (net prices). All bottles put up for auction were sold.  We feel the auction reflects an increasingly solid demand for top-quality wines. This also confirms our experience in Germany, North America and Japan.