The United States' leading wine seller Acker Merrall & Condit said Monday it was cherishing big hopes for what it dubbed Asia's largest ever wine auction, which will come to Hong Kong on May 31 following a recent tax scrap.

The sale will feature over 900 lots, with an estimated value of more than 5 million HK dollars (640,000 U.S. dollars), potentially making it the largest wine auction ever held in Asia, said John Kapon, president and auction director of the company.

Kapon said the company already had over 200 registrations for the auction, with the majority of the buyers from Hong Kong and some from Macao and China's mainland.

He said the company was expecting a very high turnout for the auction, the second of its kind in Hong Kong since the city scrapped the 40-percent wine tariffs in February.

Acker Merrall & Condit said Hong Kong has the potential to recapture the title of "wine capital of Asia" and that it was offering many "cream of the crop" wine lots.

"This is one of the best catalogues I have ever made. I told them I wanted only the best of the best that they have," Kapon told a press conference Monday.

Top lots at the auction will include a case of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti of 1990 worth between 1.44 and 1.92 million HK dollars, a case of Chateau Mouton Tothschild of 1945 worth 1.04 to 1.28 million HK dollars, 6 magnums of Chateau of 1945 worth 1.04 to 1.36 million HK dollars as well as other "cream of the crop" wine of Latour and Margaux.

"We are catering to the tastes and purchasing habits we have seen in this region. We also put on a bit of everything to see how buyers are responding," Kapon said.

International auction house Bonhams put about 250 lots of top-quality wines on sale on April 24 in Hong Kong, with a sale rate of 96.31 percent, which met the auction house' high expectations for the first wine auction since the tax cut.

John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, announced the tax cut in February on record budget surplus, saying that the decision was more about creating business opportunities than about cheaper wine.

Tsang said the volume of wine trading business in Hong Kong could increase by up to 4 billion HK dollars (510 million U.S. dollars) after the duty scrap.

Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, a leading industry exposition, will be held in Hong Kong on May 27-29. (7.8 HK dollars is equivalent to 1 U.S. dollar)

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2008)