Bonhams Sets 2026 Auction of Liber Pater in Hong Kong

Bonhams Hong Kong’s Liber Pater auction gives collectors the first direct release from Loïc Pasquet’s private cellar, with 20 lots spanning 2006 to 2021 and a one-of-one 27-litre Liber Pater 2019 signed by Prince Albert II of Monaco. The sale, Liber Pater Jubilee: 20 Years of Wine History in Motion, is scheduled for 21 November 2026 and marks 20 years since the estate’s inaugural vintage (Bonhams²).

Pasquet is opening bottles from his own reserves. Bonhams has framed the sale around large formats, multi-vintage cases and the estate’s most closely held releases, with estimates that place the wines in the same rarefied pricing conversation as trophy Burgundy, mature first growths and cult Napa Cabernet.

The Liber Pater Auction at Bonhams Hong Kong

Vintages run from 2006 to 2021. That span matters because Pasquet has released only 10 vintages since 2006, choosing to bottle only selected years from his Graves project. The catalogue offers a compact vertical of 10 vintages from 2006 to 2021 (Bonhams²).

Bonhams has described the collection as the greatest, rarest and most impressive bottles Liber Pater has produced. In the upper tier, the 27-litre Liber Pater 2019 carries an estimate of HK$5,000,000 to HK$8,000,000, or about $637,700 to $1 million at the cited exchange rate.

The catalogue also includes seven lots from the “Seven Virtues / Seven Sins” Collection. Each lot gathers between nine and 13 bottles of Liber Pater from 2006 to 2019, alongside selected bottles from Denarius 2019 to 2020 and Tetradrachm 2021, the latter connected to Pasquet’s ungrafted-vine preservation project in Naxos, Greece. Those groupings include releases beyond a single-label vertical (Bonhams²).

Why Liber Pater Commands $30,000+ Per Bottle

Liber Pater’s pricing entered a different public register in 2019, when Pasquet priced the 2015 vintage at $34,110 and the wine was described as the world’s most expensive at that time. Liber Pater 2015 is currently priced at £36,000 per bottle, or €30,000 per bottle. These numbers shape who can bid, who can drink and who treats a bottle as an archive object.

Pasquet’s farming methods limit production to around 500 bottles per vintage, and the estate has released only 10 vintages since 2006, with no release at all in many years. That combination makes the Bonhams offering unusually dense for a producer whose bottles rarely appear in quantity. A 20-lot sale from private reserves creates a concentration that the ordinary market cannot easily assemble.

Pasquet’s own answer has become part of the wine’s market lore: "What is the price you are ready to pay to have dinner with Napoleon?," said Loïc Pasquet.¹ Collectors will now test it lot by lot.

The 2019 centrepiece sharpens that test. Bonhams lists the 27-litre bottle as the only example produced, and Prince Albert II of Monaco has signed it. A 27-litre format from a producer with roughly 500 bottles per vintage carries unusual scarcity in mature Bordeaux collecting. A single vessel absorbs the equivalent of 36 standard 750ml bottles, before accounting for the one-of-one status and the signature.

Loïc Pasquet’s Graves Project and Franc de Pied Vines

Liber Pater began in 2005, when Pasquet planted the gravel of France’s Graves region with Franc de Pied, or ungrafted vines, using rare and historic grape varieties such as Castets, Mancin, Pardotte, Tarnay and Saint-Macaire. Those varieties thrived before phylloxera ravaged European vineyards in the late 19th century, and Pasquet’s stated aim has been to recreate a Bordeaux expression from before that agricultural rupture.

The project sits in Graves, one of Bordeaux’s most historically resonant wine regions, but it does not follow the modern château script built around familiar Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc cues. Pasquet’s vocabulary starts with ungrafted vines and grape names many Bordeaux drinkers never encounter in a contemporary bottle. Liber Pater attracts both devotion and criticism as a speculative act of historical recovery sold as a luxury object.

The 2019 Liber Pater at the head of the sale was produced from nine indigenous Bordeaux grape varieties, all grown on 100 percent Franc de Pied vines. Amayès Aouli, Global Head of Wine & Spirits at Bonhams, has described the wine through black cherry, violet, crushed graphite, warm earth, dried rose, licorice, iodine and a graphite-driven finish.

Pasquet’s Graves project has created a category of its own within Bordeaux collecting.

The 27-Litre 2019 and the Estate Experience

The leading lot is the one-of-one 27-litre Liber Pater 2019, estimated at HK$5,000,000 to HK$8,000,000. The bottle is signed by Prince Albert II of Monaco and comes with a Liber Pater experience that includes a private estate visit, access to the Conclave during annual blend discussions with the Liber Pater team, a private dinner and an invitation to the Francs de Pied Gala Dinner (Bonhams²).

The lot includes a private estate visit in Graves, access to the Conclave during annual blend discussions with the Liber Pater team, a private dinner and an invitation to the Francs de Pied Gala Dinner.

Bonhams has also highlighted an 18-litre bottle of Liber Pater 2011 with a separate winery experience and an estimate of $255,000 to $383,000. That lot gives bidders another large-format route into the estate’s private reserves, with 2011 sitting earlier in the timeline than the 2019 headline bottle. The 2019 carries one-of-one status, the Prince Albert II signature and the highest estimate in the sale.

Each grouping offers a run of bottles across Liber Pater 2006 to 2019, with Denarius and Tetradrachm extending the Pasquet frame.

How Collectors Should Read the Bonhams Catalogue

Bottles released directly from Liber Pater’s cellar carry a cleaner ownership trail than wines assembled through multiple private sellers. That point matters at this price level because condition, storage history and chain of custody affect both confidence and future liquidity. In this sale, the producer’s private reserves are the central credential.

A 27-litre 2019, an 18-litre 2011 and multi-bottle groupings ask different questions of a cellar. The 27-litre bottle is a centrepiece object and a museum-scale format. The seven “Seven Virtues / Seven Sins” lots, each with nine to 13 bottles, give a buyer more flexibility for tasting, comparison and future release into the market.

Bonhams has structured the sale across 2006 to 2021. The catalogue pairs early releases with later Franc de Pied-focused wines.

The headline 2019 lot includes a private estate visit, a private dinner and the Francs de Pied Gala Dinner invitation. The 2011 18-litre bottle also comes with a winery experience. Those components build a Graves itinerary around Pasquet’s own cellar and team.

Bonhams Hong Kong will hold Liber Pater Jubilee: 20 Years of Wine History in Motion on 21 November 2026. The sale will show how collectors price producer-direct provenance, ungrafted-vine Bordeaux and anniversary access when all three arrive in the same catalogue.