Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Albert Frere, a Belgian billionaire, is planning to sell more of his private wine cellar to boost a charity named for his son who died in a car crash 10 years ago.

Frere, 83, is expecting to raise as much as 983,480 pounds ($1.6 million) with the sale of more than 3,000 bottles of Bordeaux and Champagne. The Sept. 23 London event will be the third held by Sotheby’s to benefit the Charles-Albert Frere Foundation, which supports children in difficulty and disadvantaged adults.

“Frere buys straight from the chateaux and stores his wines in the cellar of his home in Belgium,” James Reed, a director in Sotheby’s London-based wine department, said in an interview. “His contacts in the wine trade are second to none and his stocks of great wine don’t seem to have a bottom.”

Sales by the world’s wealthy have been helping charities and bringing rare items to auction. Art from the collection of the late designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge raised 342.5 million euros ($490 million) in February by Christie’s International to benefit HIV charities; a second sale, also in Paris, may fetch 4 million euros on Nov 17-19.

Frere, one of Belgium’s richest men, has a net worth of $2.4 billion, said Forbes in its 2009 listing of the world’s billionaires. His wine auctions in 2003 and 2006 raised 822,634 pounds and 1.8 million pounds respectively for his charity.

Petrus, Margaux

This latest charity auction will contain vintages ranging from 1985 to 2005. A lot containing two magnums each from the highly rated 2000 vintages of chateaux Petrus, Haut Brion, Margaux and Latour is estimated to fetch up to 13,000 pounds.

Frere and his family control the publicly traded investment company Cie. Nationale a Portefeuille, with interests in the media, utilities and oil industries. He is co-owner of the Chateau Cheval Blanc vineyard in Bordeaux with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s biggest luxury group.

Twelve-bottle cases of 1986 Chateau Lafite are expected to reach 7,000 pounds, while among the Champagnes, Dom Perignon’s 1996 vintage has been estimated at 550 pounds to 650 pounds for a six-bottle case.

Prices at wine auctions fell by up to 20 percent last November and December during the economic crisis, Reed said. “Since then we’ve had average selling rates of 98 percent at our auctions and totals have routinely hit the mid-estimate,” he said.

Asian private buyers secured 49 of the 100 most expensive lots at Sotheby’s worldwide wine auctions in 2009, Reed said. A further 10 lots fell to dealers based in Asia, he said.

Demand from Asia has increased since the Hong Kong government scrapped import duty on wine in February 2008. Before February 2007 (when the rate was reduced to 40 percent), the duty had been 80 percent.

“After starting from a low knowledge base, the Asian business community has made drinking French wine part of its culture,” said Reed. “Chateau Lafite is a particular favorite.”

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: August 26, 2009 19:00 EDT