The annual report by the Conseil des ventes volontaires (CVV) – the public authority regulating auctions in France – has just been published, giving its analysis of the market for the year 2021. And we are pleased to feature for the seventh year running as the leader in the wine and spirits auction market, with a 33% market share. We’re also one of the main players in France’s overall auction market, all categories combined.
Key figures in the auction industry: 2021, a prosperous and dynamic year
Overall auction market in France in 2021: €4bn (+39.6%, after a 14% drop the previous year). The top 20 auction houses account for 75% of this amount.
“Art and collectables” sector (including wine): €1.8bn (+54.1%, after a 22.4% drop the previous year).
Of which “Wines and Spirits”: €76m (+61.7%), i.e. 4% of the “Art and collectables” sector
Digital auctions: €3bn (+53%), i.e. 75% of total auctions
iDealwine’s place in the auction market: the undisputed leader in the wine sector
1st wine auction house, with 33% market share
11th largest auction house in the art and collectibles sector
20th largest auction house for all categories in France
For the 7th consecutive year, we are, via our subsidiary IWA (International Wine Auction), the leading wine auction house in France. The CVV report states: “The dynamics of sales in this category are essentially based on that of the champion of this market: International Wine Auction [subsidiary of iDealwine]. This operator, which conducts all its sales online, has reached a total sales value of €24 billion (excluding fees) in 2021, i.e. a 26% increase compared to 2020, with some 103,785 lots sold (58% of the lots in the category) in 51 sales. This auction house alone accounted for 33% of the total amount sold in the Wine & Spirits category.
One in three bottles of wine sold at auction in France is therefore sold under iDealwine’s hammer. What about the other auction houses? They’re quite a few steps behind, with 2nd place occupied by Sotheby’s, representing 18% of the market; the 3rd house, Besch Cannes Auction is at 8%.
In addition to these wine auction results, iDealwine has also achieved results from its spirits auction platform, Fine Spirits Auction, a joint venture created with La Maison du Whisky: 6 spirits auctions were organised in 2021, for a total amount of approximately €2M. Finally, the online wine merchant service (direct sales from 850 iDealwine partner wineries) completes iDealwine’s overall results, with €13.5 million in sales (+35%) for more than 200,000 bottles sold in 2021.
“These good results crowned a complicated year, still deeply marked by the global crisis that was (and still is) the covid pandemic. However, the year 2022 promises to be even more successful for the wine auction market, where certain signatures have really taken off. In this context, iDealwine has further accelerated its development with the launch of new services (wine storage, primeur wines, customised cellar choices, etc)”, concludes Cyrille Jomand, our CEO.
So, if you want to sell your wines in the best possible conditions, you might as well turn to the champion of the sector.
