Extra lots unveiled for El Bulli auction

Bidders at an auction of wines from famed Catalan restaurant El Bulli will now also have the chance to secure lunch with chef Ferran Adria and a selection of memorabilia.

Auction house Sotheby’s has announced a number of additional lots for the sales, due to be held in Hong Kong on 3 April and New York on 26 April, on top of the 8,800-plus wines from the Spanish restaurant’s extensive cellars.

As well as lunch with Adria – with an opening bid of US$5,000 – new lots include four El Bulli chef’s jackets signed by him (opening bid: $1,000) and a set of El Bulli knives ($5,000).

There’s also a large selection of menus, wine lists and assorted stationery (from $250 each), various mesh, corrugated and Baroque metal trays and even ‘crockery for spherical olives’ ($150 each).

Sotheby’s hopes to raise well over $1.5m from the auctions, with wines including magnums of Chateau Latour 2005, rare sherries and a selection of Burgundies from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.

Each bottle will be adorned with a specially designed El Bulli sticker, and many will be signed by Adria and business partner Juli Soler.

The money raised will go to the El Bulli Foundation, a gastronomic research and innovation organisation set up by Adria after he closed the restaurant in July 2011.

http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/583687/extra-lots-unveiled-for-el-bulli-auction