Liber Pater’s Hong Kong Sale Resurrects the Taste of Pre-Phylloxera Bordeaux

Before the phylloxera crisis reshaped Bordeaux in the nineteenth century, the region's wines possessed flavours now lost to history. Loïc Pasquet has spent two decades answering the question of what those wines truly tasted like, founding Liber Pater in 2005 in the Graves region to revive the authentic, pre-crisis character of old world Bordeaux through meticulous horticultural archaeology.

The estate's pursuit has led Pasquet to cultivate ungrafted vines grown on their own roots, known as franc de pied, and to reintroduce extremely rare indigenous grape varieties that had largely vanished from the region's terroir. Now, this singular vision culminates in a milestone: Liber Pater's first ever ex-domaine auction, held at Bonhams in Hong Kong on 21 November 2026.

Twenty Vintages from the Private Cellar

The sale, titled Liber Pater Jubilee: 20 Years of Wine History in Motion, releases twenty exclusive lots drawn directly from the estate's private reserves. Each bottle represents Pasquet's commitment to recovering the lost sensory world of pre-phylloxera viticulture, using practices and vine genetics that modern Bordeaux largely abandoned over the course of the nineteenth century.

The collection's centrepiece is a 27-litre bottle of Liber Pater 2019, an extraordinary format signed by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. Accompanying the lot is an exclusive estate experience in Bordeaux, offering the buyer direct access to the vineyard and its maker. This single offering encapsulates the estate's philosophy: wines that are not merely commercial products but cultural artefacts, traceable to a living master craftsman's hand and vision.

Resurrection Through Ungrafted Vines

The technical challenge Pasquet undertook was formidable. After phylloxera devastated European vineyards in the latter half of the nineteenth century, French viticulturists responded by grafting Vitis vinifera onto American rootstock. This solution preserved the industry but fundamentally altered the taste profile of Bordeaux wines. Pasquet's decision to cultivate franc de pied vines on their own roots represents a deliberate step backward in time, an act of horticultural rebellion.

The reintroduction of indigenous grape varieties, many of which had nearly disappeared from cultivation, further distinguishes Liber Pater from contemporary Bordeaux estates. These are not modern reconstructions or academic exercises, but living links to a vanished terroir. The wines from the vines themselves, grown in the Graves, carry the minerality and character of soils that have been worked continuously for centuries yet never replanted with grafted stock.

A Collector's Bridge to History

For collectors and oenophiles, the sale represents something rarer than vintage bottles: access to flavours that exist nowhere else in the contemporary market. The 2005 founding date of Liber Pater means that even the estate's earliest releases are now approaching two decades old, offering some window into how these pre-phylloxera style wines develop and evolve under bottle age.

The decision to hold this auction in Hong Kong reflects the global reach of fine wine collecting and the significance of Asian markets in contemporary wine commerce. Yet the wines themselves remain profoundly rooted in Bordeaux soil and Pasquet's singular interpretation of historical viticulture. The auction will be conducted by Bonhams, the international auction house, and the sale itself serves as official recognition of Liber Pater's place within the wider narrative of fine wine collecting and heritage preservation.

Liber Pater Jubilee: 20 Years of Wine History in Motion takes place at Bonhams in Hong Kong on 21 November 2026. The sale comprises twenty lots released directly from the estate's private cellar, with the signature 27-litre bottle of Liber Pater 2019 as the sale's leading lot. Full details and viewing information are available through Bonhams.

Key Facts

• Estate Founded: 2005, Graves region, Bordeaux
• Founding Winemaker: Loïc Pasquet
• Viticulture Method: Ungrafted franc de pied vines on their own roots; rare indigenous grape varieties
• Sale Title: Liber Pater Jubilee: 20 Years of Wine History in Motion
• Number of Lots: 20 exclusive lots from the estate's private cellar
• Lead Lot: 27-litre bottle of Liber Pater 2019, signed by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, with exclusive Bordeaux estate experience

The Simply Luxury View

This sale marks a watershed moment in how contemporary fine wine collecting engages with historical authenticity. Liber Pater represents not a nostalgic fantasy but a measurable, terroir-based effort to recover what existed before industrial viticulture standardised European wine production. For collectors accustomed to bottles from renowned estates with unbroken provenance, these wines offer something different: the documented effort to resurrect a lost sensory world, made by a single winemaker over two decades.

The significance lies not in rarity of age but in rarity of method and intention. These are young wines by fine wine standards, yet they carry the intellectual and horticultural weight of a thesis pursued across twenty years. The inclusion of Prince Albert II's signature on the lead lot elevates the sale beyond commerce into the realm of cultural patronage, acknowledging the philosophical endeavour that Pasquet represents within contemporary viticulture.

Official brand website: liberpater.com

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