After an absence of seven years, Christie’s wine department will be back in Asia for an auction on 29 Nov 2008 at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre and it will open Christie’s Hong Kong Fall 2008 Sale Season.

Christie’s International Wine Department will conduct a focused sale of fine wine including select offerings from the cellars of first growth, Château Latour.

Christie’s Hong Kong sales totaled HK $2.4 billion in Spring 2008, the highest total ever achieved for any auction season in Asia.

The evening sale will feature around 250 selected lots, with 150 lots from Château Latour. One of the top prizes is a 1900 magnum estimated at $18,000 - $24,000. The Latour selection in its entirety is expected to realize in excess of HK $10 million.

Alongside the unique offering from Château Latour will be a further range of fine and rare wines, all sourced from impeccable European cellars, including rare Pétrus and other First Growth Bordeaux, a selection of exceptional Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, vintage Champagne and venerable Vintage Port and Old Cognacs.

The Wealth Bulletin (a Dow Jones site) has come up with a list of the 10 most expensive streets in the world. The survey revealed that the prices for the top homes in the best locations appear to have decoupled from the gloom and doom being felt in the wider property market.

If you want to live in the best accommodation in these streets you will need to be a billionaire, or not far behind !

Avenue Princess Grace in Monaco has been named at the top with a price tag of $190,000 per square metre. It is followed by Hong Kong’s Severn Road with a price of $121,000 per square metre (sq mt) at second and New York City’s Fifth Avenue at third place ($80,000 per sq mt).

Here is the complete list, with some sample property prices as tallied by Wealth Bulletin:

Opened in 1928, during an era when everything was grand and opulent, the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong has long been considered one of the world’s finest hotels.

It offers the ultimate in luxury accommodations with the most spacious hotel rooms and suites in Hong Kong.

The 26th-floor Peninsula Suite at the Hong Kong Peninsula has been regarded as the most luxurious suite in Asia. The 26th floor suite offers panoramic views of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island.

A luxury flat in Hong Kong has sold for 225 million Hong Kong dollars (28.8 million US), the most expensive apartment per square foot ever sold in Asia ($41,000 HKD per square foot), a report in the Sing Tao Daily said.

The 80th floor penthouse has a private swimming pool and spectacular view of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. The 5,497-square-foot (511-square-metre) flat, with its own roof-top terrace, is located in a new complex called The Arch, in Hong Kong’s Kowloon area.

The new tower is attracting multinational firms away from the central business district, where rocketing property prices have scared away even the world’s richest firms - Source : AFP.

Acker Merrall & Condit conducted its first wine auction in Hong Kong on May 31, which realized $8.2 million and established new record.

The total was the highest for any wine auction held in Hong Kong to date (the sales was held in the wake of new Hong Kong legislation that abolished all taxes and duties on wine).

Bidding was fiercely competitive for a case of 6 magnums of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 which fetched HK$1,306,000 (US$167,436) and a case of 12 bottles of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 sold for HK$1,210,000 (US$155,128).

Founded in 1843, the house of Krug has been providing the world with fine champagnes for six generations now and the legendary winemakers have now collaborated with equally celebrated trunk-maker Pinel & Pinel to create a limited edition Krug Escape Artist champagne trunk collection.

It consists of three different trunk designs, each of which is covered and lined in fine leather. Each also contains, in addition to two bottles of Krug, its owner’s ‘preferred means of escape’ – through gambling, cigar-smoking or music.

The first trunk design features a red calfskin exterior with shiny nickel-plated brass hinges and corners with brown calfskin lining. A drawer contains two packs of poker cards made by ‘Bee’, five casino dice and 200 professional 11g chips, while the doors house two bottles of Krug Grande Cuvée.

The Krug Escape Artist Trunk also contains four Baccarat crystal glasses, a Krug stopper and a Krug champagne cooler, created exclusively for the collection by leading designer François Bauchet. Lastly, a secret drawer holds four Pinel & Pinel nickel-plated brass coasters with leather base.

Moët Hennessy Asia Pacific has made one trunk each of this design available at the DFS Wine Shop in Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 and Sky Connection in Hong Kong International Airport where it is retailing at HK$188,000 ($24,000 usd).

The second trunk design features a blue lambskin exterior and off-white calfskin lining. It pairs a cigar holder, XCAR cigar cutter and DuPont cigar lighter with two bottles of Krug 1995. The third Krug Escape Artist Trunk has a silver lambskin exterior and pink calfskin lining. Contained within are a state-of-the-art Samsung T9 MP3 video player with Bluetooth technology and a JBL ‘On Tour Plus’ sound system, alongside two bottles of Krug Rosé.