Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has earned just over $A4 million by selling off part of his vintage wine collection at an auction in Hong Kong.

Auction house Christie’s says on its website that British football’s most successful manager raised 29,316,087 Hong Kong dollars ($A4.11 million) in 257 lots on Saturday.

The most expensive sale was a bottle of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Conti, which went for 1,225,000 HKD ($A170,000).

Ferguson’s cellar spans every year of his managerial career at United from 1986-2013, during which time he won 38 major trophies.

The rest of Ferguson’s 5,000-bottle collection will be sold in two other auctions – in London on June 5 and online from June 9-23.