Ex-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to auction wine cellar via Christie's

(Decanter) - Ex-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will sell hundreds of cases of wine, including a large cache of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Petrus, in a series of auctions with Christie's expected to raise GBP3m.

Some of the 482 lots will combine wines with pieces of memorabilia from Ferguson's football career, which saw him accrue a record number of trophies for a British manager before his retirement last year.

Most of the lots - 257 - will be sold at an initial auction in Hong Kong on 24 May. A follow-up London auction containing 140 lots is scheduled for 5 June, with an online-only sale to take place from 9 to 23 June.

‘I didn’t realise I had so much, it can engulf you,' said Ferguson, explaining his rationale for the sale in an exclusive interview with Decanter ahead of the announcement. 'So, then you say to yourself, well I’m never going to drink that.'

Vintages of DRC Burgundies and top Bordeaux ranging from 1986 to 2011 will spearhead the auctions, which will be drawn from wines that Ferguson has held in private storage in London and Oxford. He estimated he has around 800 wines at home, and these won't be sold.

Ferguson has secured a yearly allocation of DRC wines since the 1990s and, in Hong Kong, six bottles of Romanee-Conti Grand Cru 1999 will be offered alongside a signed retro shirt from Manchester United's Champions League victory against Bayern Munich that year. The lot is expected to fetch up to HK$750,000 (£60,000).

Petrus also features heavily in the auctions. A dozen bottles of Petrus 2000 are expected to fetch up to HK$550,000 (£40,000) in Hong Kong. In London, 12 bottles of Petrus 1996 are forecast to sell for up to £20,000, with an FA Cup final shirt from the same year included. A dozen bottles of Latour 2000 are also set to fetch up to £8,500 in London.