“The Magnum Man” himself has carefully selected 595 lots for Acker’s upcoming Birthday auction.
Acker is celebrating its chairman John Kapon’s birthday in a fittingly wine-fuelled fashion. America’s oldest wine shop, established in New York City in 1820, will auction off an incredible selection of rare and highly sought-after wine in a three-day sale in late November.
The aptly named Birthday auction will include more than 3,400 lots that are collectively valued at over $20 million (around €18 million). Headlining the sale are bottles from the cellar of Lewis Chester, the C.E.O. of the wine research company Liquid Icons and cofounder of Golden Vines, a.k.a. the Oscars of Fine Wine.
Chester, who holds a WSET Diploma in Wines, carefully curated his remarkable fine wine collection over many decades. He began collecting in the late 1990s, buying Bordeaux en primeur. He then moved onto Champagne and Burgundy, which remain his two great passions. He also has a penchant for large-format bottles, which led The Daily Telegraph to nickname him “Mr Magnum.” (He previously auctioned off some of his haul at a Sotheby’s auction in 2023.)
“The Magnum Man is as detailed and precise a collector as I have ever met, and those qualities have helped build one of the U.K.’s greatest collections, of which we are getting a tasty and important bite in the upcoming Birthday Auction,” Acker chairman John Kapon said in a statement.
The selection comprises 595 lots (numbers 657–1246) and includes carefully chosen bottles from Chester’s ever-evolving collection. Champagne accounts for the lion’s share, with 61 lots of Dom Pérignon and 45 lots of Krug alone. Red and white Burgundy is well represented, too, with 19 lots of Leflaive, 13 lots each of Coche-Dury and Armand Rousseau and 13 lots of Raveneau. The collection also includes bottles from Bordeaux, the Rhône Valley, Italy and beyond. As to be expected, the lineup features nearly 700 magnums, jeroboams and the like. It even has a few special-format bottlings produced by the domaines themselves.
“I took a cross-section of the producers that I collect, and the wines from those producers,” Lewis said in a statement. “I wanted to show my method and the types of wines that I love, as a testament to my journey as a collector.”
Standouts include two nine-litre bottles of Dal Forno “Prima Serie” Amarone 2012 (estimate: $6,000 to $9,000). They are two of only 10 made and come with a hand-signed note from the founding winemaker. Other highlights include a vertical of Leflaive’s grand crus in three-litre formats spanning the 2013, 2014, and 2015 vintages and a multi-vintage assortment of Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne presented in a unique co-branded wooden case.
“Even though they might not know me personally, they’ll get to know me through those bottles,” Lewis adds.
Acker’s Birthday Auction will take place from November 19–21, with the Chester’s collection going under the gavel on the opening day. You can check out the catalogue here.
