Christie's Auction Floor Experience

Christie's first auction on 5 December 1766 included Madeira and claret. Michael Broadbent was hired in 1966 to revive Christie's wine department and filled 140 notebooks with 90,000 tasting notes before dying at 92. Registering as a bidder is free. Watching the live auction is free. In June 2024 a magnum of 1961 Château Latour sold for £25,000 including the 25% buyer's premium, against a high estimate of £6,000. Berry Bros. & Rudd — Britain's oldest wine merchant, in continuous operation since 1698 — has its shop a five-minute walk away, at 63 Pall Mall.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Claim Your Paddle — Even If You Never Raise It Adventure · Free

   Where: Christie's registration desk, ground floor, 8 King Street.

   What: This is the move nobody tells first-timers about. Registering as a bidder is completely free and transforms the experience. You're no longer a spectator — you're a participant. The process takes 5 minutes: create an account at christies.com, register for the specific wine sale, provide ID and payment details. Arrive at the saleroom, collect your paddle (a numbered card). The moment the auctioneer nods at your paddle, a lot worth tens of thousands of pounds is yours. That's power. Of course you don't have to bid — but holding the paddle changes your relationship with every lot.

   How: Check first that your sale is a live one in the King Street saleroom: most London wine sales now run online-only, with occasional live single-owner sales. Then register online at christies.com before the auction date. Bring your passport and the card you registered with. The desk opens 30 minutes before the auction starts. Alternatively, walk in as a spectator (no registration required) — the experience is still extraordinary, just without the paddle.

   Backup: Can't attend in person? Christie's Live lets you bid in real time from anywhere — most Christie's bids in 2024 were placed online. But the room is incomparable.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Watch a Telephone Bidder Win Something Worth More Than a Car History · Free

   Where: The Christie's saleroom, 8 King Street, on the day of a live wine sale. Take a seat. The telephone bidders line the walls: Christie's specialists, each quietly relaying bids from anonymous collectors in Hong Kong, New York, Geneva.

   What: Christie's has sold wine since its first sale in 1766, and in 1966 it hired Michael Broadbent MW to revive its wine department. He spent the next 43 years here, 26 of them running the wine department and 17 as a consultant, filling 140 notebooks with 90,000 tasting notes, turning Christie's into the global benchmark for how fine wine gets priced. He died in 2020 at 92. The moment the auctioneer's gavel drops — one sharp crack — and a 12-bottle case of Petrus 1990 in original wooden case goes for around £30,000 (about £37,500 with premium) — Broadbent's legacy is audible in that sound.

   How: Sit anywhere. The auction catalogue (online at christies.com) lists lots in order, so you can follow along. Watch for: the phone bidders raising a hand when their client is still in; the auctioneer reading the room, slowing down when two bidders are locked in; the moment the gavel falls and the room exhales.

   Backup: If the big live sale isn't available, Christie's online-only auctions run year-round and can be watched live via Christie's Live on their website — the bidding interface shows real-time activity.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Decode the Number: What That Lot Actually Cost Wine · Free

   Where: Anywhere with the Christie's catalogue in hand — in the room during a break, or afterwards at a nearby café.

   What: Here's what nobody explains. When the auctioneer says 'sold at £25,000,' that is NOT the final price. Christie's adds a 25% buyer's premium on top of the hammer price. So that magnum of Château Latour 1961 that sold for £25,000? That figure already included the premium: the gavel fell at about £20,000, against a high estimate of £6,000. And a bottle of 1945 Romanée-Conti that hammered at $450,000 at Sotheby's New York in 2018? $558,000 all-in, a record until the same wine sold for $812,500 in New York in March 2026 (one of only 600 bottles ever made from a vintage where the vines were immediately uprooted afterwards). The premium is how the auction house makes its margin. This knowledge changes how you read every estimate in the catalogue: the 'low estimate' is the hammer price you're targeting, but your actual budget needs to be 25% higher.

   How: Take the catalogue. Find any lot. Multiply the hammer estimate by 1.25. That's your real number. Now look at the estimates for the most expensive lots in the sale — and do that math.

   Backup: Christie's online results (past sales) are searchable at christies.com — you can see exactly what every lot achieved, with premium included, going back years.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Buy From the Same Château at Britain's Oldest Wine Merchant — Five Minutes Away Wine · Price: low

   Where: Berry Bros. & Rudd's Wine Shop, 63 Pall Mall, London. From Christie's, turn right out of the front door, walk to the end of King Street, and turn left down St James's Street to Pall Mall. The walk takes about 4-5 minutes. The shop stood at No. 3 St James's Street until mid-2017, when it moved to 63 Pall Mall; No. 3 is now reception and order collection.

   What: Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine merchant, trading since 1698. They are a Royal Warrant holder (King Charles III). The old shop at No. 3 was known for its wooden floors, barrels used as counters, and a ledger that once recorded the weights of customers including Lord Byron and the Aga Khan (the shop used a large set of scales for this). The staff know the wines that just sold at Christie's — they often sell similar bottles at retail. With that £25,000 magnum of Château Latour 1961 in mind, walk in and ask what they have from Latour. The grand vin starts at £1,084 a bottle (the 2009), but you can leave with the second wine, Les Forts de Latour, for £150-£200, or the third, Pauillac de Latour, for £64-£75 — the same house, a different label.

   How: Open Tuesday-Friday 10am-7pm, Saturday 10am-6pm; closed Sunday and Monday. No booking needed. Walk in, tell them what you watched sell at Christie's, and ask what they'd recommend in a similar style that's actually drinkable. They'll guide you.

   Backup: If Berry Bros. is closed, Jermyn Street (one block north) has multiple excellent wine shops. Alternatively, Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly (5-minute walk) has a strong fine wine section with bottles from the same châteaux you just watched sell.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Register as bidder for pre-auction tastings of key lots

• Spectating is free - just register in advance

• Christie's King Street and Sotheby's New Bond Street are main venues

• Recent highlights: Avery 'last treasures' (June 2024), Bouchard Père cellars (December 2025, £2.4M)

• Online auctions more accessible - watch from home