Christie’s to Open Wine Shop at Rockefeller Center After New York Law Change
Christie’s is preparing to add a new kind of sales floor to its Rockefeller Center headquarters: a boutique wine shop. Christie’s Wine and Spirits is expected to open later in 2026, following a change in New York law that allows the auction house to move past a Prohibition-era restriction that had stood in the way of the plan.
The legal adjustment matters because Christie’s is not a conventional wine retailer. The company is owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, who also owns nine vineyards, including Chateau Latour in Bordeaux. That connection helped make the issue more complicated under the old rule, which barred wine stores from also being wine makers.
In a statement, Christie’s spokesperson Angela Montefinise said the auction house took part in “a significant legal process specifically to ensure that consumers are protected and everything is proper and in the spirit of the law.” She added that Christie’s Wine and Spirits will “showcase the wines our specialists love most,” with an emphasis on connecting people to fine wine, collecting, and Christie’s.
The move also arrives at a moment when Christie’s is looking to strengthen its wine business in the United States. According to the article, the category brought in $89 million in global revenues, trailing Acker, Sotheby’s, and Zachy’s. Daniel Posner, owner of Grapes The Wine Store in White Plains, called the Rockefeller Center location a savvy move, noting the concentration of bankers and lawyers nearby.
Christie’s has also posted notable results in wine auctions. Last June, its $28.8 million sale of William I. Koch’s collection set a North American record for the highest price paid for a single-owner wine collection. A June 8 sale brought in $3.2 million and sold every bottle in the “exceptional cellar of a Silicon Valley pioneer.”
For Christie’s, the new shop is more than a retail experiment. It is a bid to turn auction expertise, brand visibility, and collector relationships into a broader wine business at a time when the market remains highly competitive.
