Former broadcaster John Hawkesby began collecting wine in the 1980s. Photo / Peter Rees
Former broadcaster John Hawkesby began collecting wine in the 1980s. Photo / Peter Rees
Broadcasting legend John Hawkesby is selling his wine collection, including a range of French burgundy and bordeaux bottles.
“I’ve tried all the wines that I’m putting into the auction and I’ve loved them all, but my cardiologist says it is time to let them go,” says the former TV3 and TVNZ newsreader and host of Top Half and It’s in the Bag.
Hawkesby’s passion for wine began in the 1980s, “when I was travelling in Hawke’s Bay and went to Te Mata Estate for a tasting and tried a wine called Coleraine. That’s a wine that turned my head.”
He then “fell in love with French burgundy and bordeaux and started seriously collecting”.
He wanted to understand each region as much as possible and invest in bottles from lesser-known wineries.
“In terms of burgundy, I looked for good producers that came with a good reputation and whose primary aim was consistency. I tended to buy more in the ‘exceptional vintages’ rather than the ‘okay’ vintages.
“In terms of bordeaux, I particularly like the wines of Saint-Émilion. They were wines that were reasonably affordable – not necessarily cheap but they may have been second growth, third growth or even fourth growth and that really snuck in under the radar and, in a blind tasting, could give Haut-Brion or Mouton Rothschild a run for its money.”
A selection from John Hawkesby's collection.
Most of his wines came from fine wine negociants “and went straight into my temperature-controlled cellar on Waiheke Island, where they’ve been lying flat in a dark place, at the right temperature for over a couple of decades”.
As well as having an impressive broadcasting CV, Hawkesby has been a wine reviewer and judge.
The auction at Webb’s next week features highlights including a wide selection of vintages from top burgundy producer Domaine Armand Rousseau Pere et Fils, including a bottle of 2005 Chambertin Clos deBeze Grand Cru, Côte de Nuits expected to fetch up to $6000.
Elsewhere in the auction catalogue is a rare bottle of Ardbeg 1975, The Awakening, a 38-year-old single malt Scotch whisky estimated to be worth between $45,000 and $50,000. A cask of this whisky sold two years ago for what is thought to be a world-record sum of £16 million (NZ$31m at the time).
The auction will be held at Webb’s Auction House in Auckland next Wednesday, May 29, from 6.30pm.
