Six lots of chateau Latour 1961 formed the centrepiece of an auction at Sotheby's in London this week, raising a collective £125,925 in an auction that made a grand total of just under £1.2 million.

Other lots of note included cases of chateau Haut-Brion 1970, Leoville Lascases 1976, Cos d'Estournel 1995 and a rare single bottle of Romanee Conti 1976, which sold for £4,140.

In spite of the impressive prices commanded by chateau Latour at the auction, they were somewhat below those seen at the Acker Merrall and Condit sale in May, where a single case raised HK $463,600 (£38,937).

Speaking to Bloomberg, Sotheby's' senior director of international wine in London Stephen Mould said the discrepancy was largely down to the condition of the bottles.

"They've been stored in a cellar for a long time," he told the news provider.

"There's not that much of it about. The labels are fragile or torn, and we've taken that into account."