British Barrister Toasts £8million Sale of 7,000 Bottles From His Investor Wine Collection – Retirement Sorted Then..!

Ian Mill QC has sold off majority of his 10,000 bottle fine wine collection at Zachys, New York The QC says that he has no idea how much profit he's made since becoming a wine collector.

A British barrister is celebrating the £8million sale of 7,000 bottles from his private wine collection at a New York auction after he became a collector to fund his retirement fund.

Ian Mill, QC, has cashed in on the majority of his 10,000-strong collection with bottles costing from £190 to £70,000.

The barrister began collecting wine more than thirty years ago and told The Times that, despite having no plans to stop practising any time soon, he wants to open a restaurant in Californian wine hub Healdsburg.

California wines are hugely underrated in this country

'California wines are hugely underrated in this country,' he said, adding that the recent New York auction in New York at family-owned firm Zachys was billed 'one of the most important collections of fine wine, and particularly fine burgundy, that has come to market in the past decade. One could even say century.'

Mr Mill works at Blackstone Chambers in London, also home to Lord Pannick and Sir James Eadie, who for and against the government in September’s row over Boris Johnson’s bid to prorogue Parliament.

A 1982 Bâtard-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive courtesy of the Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons restaurant in Oxford sparked his passion.  Buying up bottles of burgundy on an industrial scale, Mr Mill became a shareholder in Morris & Verdin.  He sold up to Berry Bros & Rudd back in 2003 and continued to collect, stocking the cellars of Cabotte, the City of London restaurant in which he has a stake.

Auctioneers at Zachys told prospective buyers that Mr Mill was a 'a stickler for provenance, appearance and general quality'.

But he claims not to know how much profit he's made from wine investing over the years. He added that a lot of cash he did raise was spend on repaying debts he'd incurred over the years.