A cellar of fine and rare Bordeaux wine dubbed one of the greatest ever is to be put up for sale in a two-day auction at Sotheby's in London next month.

The collection consists of around 5,500 bottles, 730 magnums, 500 double magnums, 229 Jeroboams and 240 imperials, covering vintages from 1955 to 2004.

As one would expect with any cellar stocked full of fine and rare Bordeaux, First Growth wines feature heavily.

Cases of 1986 Chateau Lafite Rothschild are available in the sale, estimated at between £14,000 and £17,000.

There are also three-dozen bottles of 1996 Chateau Latour available for £6,200 to £7,000, as well as two cases of 1986 Chateau Margaux.

Other Bordeaux wines featuring in the sale are examples from Chateau Angelus, Montrose, Palmer, Cos d'Estournel, Ducru Beaucaillou, Duhart Milon, Gruaud Larose, Lynch Bages, Pavie and Talbot.

Sotheby's has not revealed exactly where the wine has come from, only that it is a "continental property" owned by a philanthropist.

"The owner of this collection has enjoyed many wines from his cellar but, as sometimes happens, he has found that he has more wine than he needs," said Sotheby's worldwide head of wine Serena Sutcliffe.

She went on to explain the experience of discovering just what this collector had hidden away.

"It was awe-inspiring to inspect and pack up this remarkable collection of wines, eliciting thirsty gasps as the process unfolded.

"As we saw favourite wines and Holy Grail wines, virtually all in original wooden cases, it was obvious that this was something special."

Sotheby's expects to raise £2.1 million from the sale of the 1,475 lots.

While top Bordeaux always proves popular at auction, there is a growing demand for Burgundy, Sotheby's reported earlier this month.

At one of its recent New York sales, six magnums of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache were the top-selling lot when they achieved $60,500 (£38,500) from an Asian buyer - 50 per cent above estimate.