MacDonnell Collection of DRC and Bordeaux Heads to Sotheby’s

A 12-bottle case of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg 1999 carries a $40,000 to $60,000 estimate. Six original wooden cases of Château Mouton Rothschild 1982 carry a $9,000 to $12,000 estimate. Eight bottles of Château Rayas 1989 place the Rhône in the same conversation as Burgundy and Bordeaux, while 15 vintages of Masseto, from 1988 to 2002, give the Italian section its own centre of gravity (Yahoo¹).

The DRC and Bordeaux auction collection at Sotheby’s New York

The auction house is presenting a cellar drawn from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhône and Italy, with original cases, large formats and mature vintages doing much of the work.

Auction buyers weigh producer names alongside bottle condition, format and ownership history when assessing an estimate. “The MacDonnell cellar reflects the very best of what great wine collecting can be,” Young said in a statement.

That result gives bidders a recent reference point for the MacDonnell name at Sotheby’s, even though wine follows its own rules around ullage, labels, capsules and original packaging.

The cellar reads as a collector’s map of late-20th-century blue-chip wine, assembled from the regions that dominate serious auction catalogues. The MacDonnells lived in Rutherford, and the strongest signals in this auction come from Vosne-Romanée, Pauillac, Pessac-Léognan, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Bolgheri and Piedmont.

A Rutherford cellar built across decades

Jannine and Robert MacDonnell put down roots in Rutherford in the early 1980s, and their collecting life unfolded in Napa Valley across the following decades. Jannine died in 2021, and Robert died in 2025. Their shared interests in art and wine now sit in public view through two Sotheby’s sales, the May art auction and the October wine auction (Yahoo¹).

Rutherford is the Napa Valley home tied to the story for American collectors. Serious Napa collectors have long looked outward as well, especially toward Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhône and Italy. The MacDonnell cellar follows that pattern through mature French benchmarks and Italian icons rather than a California-only lens.

The strongest collections usually show repetition, not occasional trophy buying. Here, that pattern appears in six original wooden cases of Château Mouton Rothschild 1982, 15 vintages of Masseto from 1988 to 2002, and multiple Rhône positions across Château Rayas, Chave Hermitage, Guigal and Jaboulet. (Yahoo¹).

Scarcity in this sale comes from the combination of polished provenance, extraordinary depth and lots with original case status. The sale includes a 12-bottle case of DRC Richebourg 1999, six original wooden cases of Mouton 1982, and Masseto in imperial, magnum and double magnum formats. Those choices matter because format and packaging often determine whether a bottle becomes dinner inventory, cellar architecture or a future auction lot (Robbreport²).

A single bottle of a famous vintage may serve a dinner. A case, a vertical or a set of large formats can anchor a cellar strategy, especially when the wines are mature enough to drink and established enough to resell. The MacDonnell auction sits in that narrow zone, where drinking pleasure and auction liquidity meet in the same catalogue.

Burgundy and Bordeaux lots carrying the first bids

The Burgundy section opens with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg 1999, offered as 12 bottles with a $40,000 to $60,000 estimate. Richebourg gives collectors Grand Cru Burgundy from among the more closely followed domaines in the world, and a full case creates a different bidding psychology than a lone bottle (Robbreport²).

Armand Rousseau Chambertin 2002 appears in a 10-bottle grouping, with an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny 1990 appears as a magnum estimated at $3,800 to $5,000. Armand Rousseau Chambertin 2002 and Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny 1990 widen the Burgundy field beyond DRC, with Chambertin and Musigny bringing two of the Côte de Nuits’ most collected Grand Cru addresses into the same auction (Robbreport²).

Bordeaux gives the sale one of its clearest format stories. Original wooden case status matters at auction because packaging can help preserve a wine’s chain of identity, particularly for a vintage that has moved through private cellars for decades.

Château Haut-Brion 1989 appears as a case estimated at $16,000 to $24,000. Mouton 1982 and Haut-Brion 1989 give the Bordeaux section two mature reference points, one from Pauillac and one from Pessac-Léognan. For buyers who prefer Left Bank structure with bottle age already in place, these are the lots that will likely sit near the upper end of the inspection list (Robbreport²).

The MacDonnell auction gives bidders two different scarcity profiles in the same sale. DRC Richebourg 1999 brings domaine scarcity and Grand Cru Burgundy demand, while Mouton 1982 brings First Growth Bordeaux in original wooden cases.

Rhône and Italian icons widen the field

Château Rayas gives the Rhône section its sharpest edge. Sotheby’s lists eight bottles of Château Rayas 1989 with a $10,000 to $15,000 estimate, alongside 31 bottles of the 1990, with 12 bottles estimated at $24,000 to $35,000. Rayas has become one of the Rhône names collectors chase hardest, and the MacDonnell cellar includes two mature vintages in meaningful quantity.

The Rhône holdings also include Guigal’s “La La” wines, original cases of Chave Hermitage 1998 and 2000 estimated at $2,400 to $3,000, and 23 bottles of Jaboulet’s La Chapelle 1978, with 12 bottles estimated at $9,000 to $11,000. That spread moves from Châteauneuf-du-Pape to Hermitage, giving bidders access to the northern and southern Rhône without leaving the same cellar.

The Italian section emphasizes formats as well as labels. Masseto appears in 15 vintages, from 1988 to 2002, and the offering includes imperial, magnum and double magnum formats. Large-format Masseto from that span gives the Italian side of the sale imperial, magnum and double magnum lots tied to dinner sizes and long-term presentation.

Sassicaia 1985 appears as three magnums in an original wooden case, estimated at $5,500 to $7,000. Giacomo Conterno Monfortino 1990 appears as six magnums estimated at $12,000 to $18,000, while a full 12-bottle case of Monfortino 1997 is estimated at $8,000 to $10,000. Gaja and Bruno Giacosa also appear in the Italian section, giving Piedmont a strong presence beside Bolgheri.

The sale extends beyond the usual DRC and First Growth audience. Piedmont lots include Monfortino, Gaja and Giacosa. Tuscan lots include Masseto and Sassicaia. Rhône lots include Rayas, Chave, Guigal and Jaboulet. The MacDonnell DRC Bordeaux auction collection uses DRC and Bordeaux as headline signals, but the catalogue’s depth extends well beyond those two poles.

What collectors should read in the estimates

The estimates reveal how Sotheby’s expects bidders to weigh producer, vintage, format and packaging. DRC Richebourg 1999 is offered as 12 bottles at $40,000 to $60,000, while the magnum of de Vogüé Musigny 1990 is estimated at $3,800 to $5,000.

Original wooden cases appear repeatedly in the MacDonnell cellar, including the six cases of Mouton 1982, the Sassicaia 1985 magnums and the Chave Hermitage 1998 and 2000. Those details shape confidence, ease inspection and allow comparison of one lot against another with more than vintage reputation in mind.

The art sale adds another layer of attention. Sotheby’s sold the MacDonnell art collection in May for $9.1 million, above the $4.7 million to $7 million estimate. Wine buyers will still make decisions bottle by bottle, but the earlier result ensures that the MacDonnell name enters the October sale with an established auction narrative at Sotheby’s.

Scarcity in the sale includes DRC Richebourg 1999 and Rayas. The Italian section includes the Masseto vertical, Sassicaia 1985 magnums and Monfortino lots.

The October 24 sale will test appetite for a Napa-built cellar whose strongest bottles come from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhône and Italy.