Auctions

The conventional way to sell wine is at auction. Just like when buying wine, this is facilitated with a good relationship with a wine auction house. The hardest aspect about this channel for the new Winevestor is that a number of auction houses have minimum consignments of anywhere between $2,000 and $15,000.

If selling a good amount of wine (greater than $20,000), or the wine is more than twenty years old, or it is the first time that the auction house has been used, the auctioneer will often want to review the storage conditions and taste a couple of bottles to verify that the wine is fit for resale. Obviously this is another hit at your rate of return. On future sales of wine, the auction house, if satisfied with the wine storage, typically does not need to taste a wine sample, unless there is any further question about the provenance. The wine is then inventoried and shipped to the auction warehouse.

The auctioneer will also appraise the wine and work with the seller on estimates to put in the auction catalogue. This will be driven mainly by recent wine auction activity, but also by bottle size, bottle and label condition, ullage level and whether it is a case lot with the original wooden case (OWC).

The auction occurs and the wine is sold. If the wine does not sell, then the auction house will either return the wine to you, or try again at the next auction.

The auction typically pays the seller thirty to sixty days after the sale.

It is worth highlighting that Morrell & Company in New York (www.morrellwineauctions.com), have a differentiated approach where they do not charge a selling commission. This can save the seller a lot of money.