Some wine purchases take two clicks. And then there is the Großer Ring auction in Trier. Once a year, merchants, importers and collectors from around the world sit before an auctioneer, taste Rieslings that are not available in the trade, and bid on bottles whose price nobody knows that morning. It has something of the stock exchange about it, something of the theatre, and a great deal to do with tradition.

An idea from the 19th century

The roots go back a long way. According to the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), Germany’s association of top estates, wine auctions were held regularly in Trier from the mid-1860s. The winegrowers of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer wanted to present themselves together rather than negotiate with the trade individually. In 1871 the Trier Chamber of Commerce concluded that the auctions had proved their worth. The Großer Ring itself likes to recall that individual casks of Mosel wine fetched prices well above many Bordeaux at the time.

There are two readings of when the Großer Ring itself was founded. The association gives 1908, as do Weinland Mosel and the Hawesko magazine. The VDP’s history page and its association brochure, by contrast, date to 1910 the merger of the three Trier auction groups to form the „Trierer Verein von Weingutsbesitzern von Mosel, Saar und Ruwer“ (our translation: “Trier Association of Wine Estate Owners of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer”). The sources do not resolve this discrepancy. What is certain is that on 26 November 1910 the Verband Deutscher Naturweinversteigerer (Association of German Natural Wine Auctioneers) followed in Koblenz, the nucleus of today’s VDP. According to the VDP, the driving force behind both mergers was Albert von Bruchhausen, the Lord Mayor of Trier, who also became the new association’s first president. That makes Trier something like the association’s birthplace.

To bid, you need a Kommissionär

What sets the procedure apart is a figure not found in quite this form at art auctions: the Kommissionär, or commission agent. As the VDP describes it, he buys in his own name but on someone else’s account. Anyone wishing to take part therefore instructs one of the accredited wine brokers, tells him what they want and what their limit is, and the Kommissionär raises his hand in the room. The VDP also mentions the “Schlachtenbummler” (away fans) of earlier times: guests who, for a small entrance fee, were allowed to taste along but could not bid.

The money, too, follows fixed rules. According to the Hawesko magazine, the commission agents receive five per cent each from buyer and seller. On top of the hammer price, then, the buyer pays a premium plus VAT. This is why records are often reported with two figures, a net and a gross price.

The Trier auction is a “wet” one: the wines can be tasted beforehand, with a preview tasting on the morning of the sale. Since 2022, Edwin Vos of Christie’s in London has guided proceedings through the afternoon, and customers abroad also bid via a livestream. In 2023 the VDP praised Vos for conducting the four-hour auction with assurance and entertainment value, and it points to auction software developed together with the University of Trier.

The date, too, is on the move. For a long time the auction was held in mid- or late September; most recently it took place in November 2025. As part of a strategic realignment aimed more squarely at international private collectors, the Großer Ring has announced the next auction, featuring wines from the 2025 vintage, for 9 May 2027.

Records with Scharzhofberger

The most famous figure in the history of the Trier auctions belongs to the Egon Müller estate in Wiltingen on the Saar. In September 2015, 22 bottles of the 2003 Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese went under the hammer for €12,000 net each. Including premium and tax, according to Weinkaiser, that came to €14,994 per bottle; in addition, 36 half-bottles sold for €5,500 net each. The VDP speaks of the highest price ever paid anywhere in the world for a young wine. The year is borne out by contemporaneous reports from Weinkaiser, Nikos Weinwelten and Weinland Mosel; the VDP’s history page gives 2005 at this point instead.

The Scharzhof sets the standard with the lighter Prädikat levels, too. In 2017 the 2016 Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben – Kabinett being the lightest Prädikat level, traditionally delicate and often with some residual sweetness – opened at €30 and, according to Weinland Mosel, fetched €180 a bottle, for 1,200 bottles. It was considered the most expensive Riesling Kabinett ever auctioned. A year later the following vintage raised the bar: €200 net a bottle, which the VDP describes as a world record for a Kabinett. In 2023 a magnum of the 2015 Scharzhofberger Beerenauslese reached €16,000, and a three-litre bottle of the 2022 Kabinett €10,100, according to the VDP’s report on the sale.

Other houses are also among the front-runners. At the auction on 20 September 2019, according to Weinwirtschaft, Joh. Jos. Prüm achieved €8,996.40 for a 1.5-litre bottle of its 2013 Graacher Himmelreich Trockenbeerenauslese. On the same day Egon Müller once again set a benchmark for Kabinett wines with a six-litre bottle of his 2018 Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben, which fetched €5,247.90. In total the Großer Ring turned over around €1.745 million that year with some 13,000 bottles. In 2022, according to the VDP, the figure was €2.74 million net; in 2023, around €2.13 million.

Why the cult?

The appeal lies first of all in scarcity. Wines bearing the auction sticker are offered by the VDP estates exclusively at these auctions. They appear in the trade only if a buyer sells them on. Often they are special casks or large-format bottlings of which only a handful exist.

Then there is the aura of the place. The 31 member estates of the Großer Ring are among the leading names of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer. For the winegrowers themselves, taking part is an honour. In 2025 the Ayl winegrower Florian Lauer called the auction, on television, the accolade for any winegrower. And finally there is the drama: a price arrived at in front of an audience tells a better story than any price list.

Anyone now thinking of their piggy bank can relax. By no means every lot runs to four figures. The Hawesko magazine points out that many wines are knocked down at €20 to €30. Still, a piece of good advice from a wine lover in the same television report holds true: set a budget beforehand. Auction fever exists with Riesling, too.