Timed Online Auction, 28 January - 9 February 2026

Provenance

The late David Brice was a respected wine connoisseur, collector and co-founder of Wine Cellar, fine wine merchants. His lifelong passion for wine from all corners of the world wine, and generosity, helped develop a culture of fine wine in South Africa and beyond. Always with value and authenticity in mind, the collection spans a wide range of styles from leading producers and diverse regions. The wines were professionally imported under refrigeration and carefully stored at Wine Cellar thereafter. Many of the producers are not available in South Africa and provide an excellent buying opportunity.

The Rhône valley was one of David's favoured regions, known for its diverse range of reds and whites. These were quintessential French wines from excellent easy-drinking, to fine, long-term treasures. He enjoyed wines from all the villages from Vaucluse to Vacqueyras, and Cornas to Côte-Rôtie. David focused on top vintages for long-term maturation and lesser vintages for earlier drinking. The highlight perhaps is his deep collection of top Châteauneuf-du-Pape from great vintages like 2010 and 2007.

For more detailed information on the lots, please feel free to contact Roland Peens (roland@winecellar.co.za). Roland spent many years sharing and enjoying these wines with David Brice and is happy to provide further insight into the collection.

Critics Ratings

‘The 2015 Vinsobres Les Hauts de Julien is a dead ringer for a Cornas from Clape. This inky colored beauty offers tons of blackberries, olive tapenade, pepper and even a hint of bacon fat to go with a full-bodied, concentrated, incredibly layered and pure style on the palate. As with the other 2015s from the Perrin family, its purity of fruit is truly special. Give bottles a few years in the cellar and enjoy over the following decade or more. This reference point estate continues to achieve incredible quality in just about every vintage. They’ve certainly made the wine of the vintage in 2014 with their Hommage a Jacques Perrin release, and it defies the vintage characteristics. As to their 2015s, Marc Perrin commented during my visit that he’d never seen a vintage where ever variety excelled like in 2015. I was able to taste through all of the single varieties that will go into their Châteauneuf du Pape cuvées, and he’ll get no argument from me on that assertion. I’ve also opted to include their Famille Perrin Gigondas and Vinsobres releases in this report as well. The top cuvées from Gigondas (no Vieilles Vignes was presented this go around) are truly great wines; the Vinsobres Les Hauts de Julien is easily one of the top wines from the appellation and would pass undetected in a blind lineup of great northern Rhône Syrahs.’ - Jeb Dunnuck, 94-96/100 (Oct 2016)

'Big, ripe bouquet of black cherry and mocha oak. Thick coulis fruits in a deep, insistent palate that ends coolly. 2020-2035’ - John Livingstone-Learmonth, Decanter, 91/100

‘From slightly further north in the Côtes du Rhône, the 2015 Vinsobres Les Hauts de Julien was aged in 50% new oak. While it is lush and supple, it carries a bit too much cedar for me. Still, there's no denying the appeal of its cola, ripe fruit and baking spice flavors.’ - Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (Oct 2017)