Wine Talks British Business with Jamie Ritchie  Chairman Sotheby's Wine Worldwide

Wine Talks British Business with Jamie Ritchie Chairman Sotheby's Wine Worldwide

 

Jamie Ritchie is the Chairman of Sotheby’s Wine, Worldwide. He joined Sotheby’s in London in 1990 and, during his 29  year career, he has been responsible for expanding Sotheby’s wine business from being an auction house with sales based only in London to a multi-channel international wine merchant with 2018 sales exceeding $100 million. Since 1994, he has been based in New York, having started Sotheby’s US wine auctions. He launched wine auctions in Hong Kong in 2009 and that location has since registered sales of more than $370 million. Mr. Ritchie launched Sotheby’s Wine retail business in New York in 2010 and Hong Kong in 2014. Mr. Ritchie was appointed Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Wine in 2016 with responsibility for developing a full service global wine business. Since then, Sotheby’s has expanded into the spirits business achieving the record highest value auction with the $10 million Ultimate Whisky Collection in 2019. Also in 2019, Sotheby’s Wine launched the ”Sotheby’s Own Label Wine Collection” a range of Sotheby’s branded wines, which are sold exclusively through their retail businesses. Mr. Ritchie is one of the world’s leading wine auctioneers, holding the records for selling the most expensive bottles of wine and spirits: 1 bottle of Romanee-Conti 1945 for $558,000 in 2018; and 1 bottle of The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926 for $1.9 million in 2019. He was one of the auctioneers at each of the 16 consecutive Hong Kong “white glove” auctions, selling 10,202 consecutive lots without an unsold lot. Mr. Ritchie continues to conduct Sotheby’s wine auctions, donate his services to many benefit auctions, and to lead tastings around the United States. He is a respected authority on the wine market and has been regularly featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Forbes and Wine Spectator Magazine.

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