Cellar disposal
Decanter|February 2023
Selling off your prized stash or investment portfolio of wines can be nervewracking, gut-wrenching, highly rewarding and fun - or even all in turn. So how do you get the best deal you can? Here's a full guide from a trade insider
CHRIS LOSH
Cellar disposal

There are no better products to buy than wine. Fact. With its infinite variety, wide range of prices and ability to (a) increase in value, and (b) make your steak taste better, it appeals to nerds, collectors and sybarites alike.

Which perhaps explains why wine lovers can end up with so much of the stuff. Bottle racks groaning, wine fridges stuffed, cases littering the floor. And let's not even get started on the hundreds of bottles sitting in bond.

If any of this sounds familiar, feel free to speak up. You're among friends.

Most of us in the vino-curious community have never considered selling our cellar; our idea of 'disposing of bottles stretches no further than emptying them into a glass and drinking them.

But there may be times when you need to (ahem...) liquidate some assets. It could be a small, strategic sell-off to free up space or a much larger/total disposal as a result of a house-move, or worse.

People tend to sell their cellar at a time of crisis - divorce, bereavement, things like that,' says Paddy Shave, head of wine sales at Brightwells auctioneers. But in fact, more and more people are coming to us at the moment and saying that they're not sure about being able to pay their bills.

Whatever your reasons for deciding to sell, you need to know your options for how to go about it.

STORAGE IS KEY

Denne historien er fra February 2023-utgaven av Decanter.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra February 2023-utgaven av Decanter.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA DECANTERSe alt
Great Cabernets of South America
Decanter

Great Cabernets of South America

Other varieties may hog the limelight across South America, but the world’s most popular grape for red wines has played a critical role in the continent's wine heritage. We trace Cabernet Sauvignon’s story here, and recommend 16 benchmark wines to try

time-read
7 mins  |
September 2024
PROVENCE by train and bike
Decanter

PROVENCE by train and bike

With rail links to Paris, Nice, Marseilles and beyond, a vast network of cycle paths and quiet roads, and a plethora of historic wine estates, Provence is an ideal destination for an eco-friendly, car-free and carefree) holiday

time-read
6 mins  |
September 2024
IN THE MIX
Decanter

IN THE MIX

These days most of the world’s vineyards are planted to just a single variety, but what happens when multiple varieties are planted, harvested and blended together?

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024
Malvasia A BUYER'S GUIDE
Decanter

Malvasia A BUYER'S GUIDE

If ever a grape was hard to pin down, it'd be Malvasia. Indeed it’s not even a single grape variety. In all of its many varied, and often completely unrelated guises, it has been the mainstay of popular wine styles across the centuries. Our expert takes a closer look...

time-read
9 mins  |
September 2024
RIBERA ADOPTS THE NEW OLD WAYS
Decanter

RIBERA ADOPTS THE NEW OLD WAYS

It’s not so much a new direction for winemakers in Ribera del Duero, but a growing recognition that traditional methods and wine styles set aside by the previous generation can now provide a way ahead to revitalise the region

time-read
8 mins  |
September 2024
Roussanne around the world
Decanter

Roussanne around the world

Up for a challenge? For winemakers as much as wine drinkers, getting a handle on a mercurial grape such as Roussanne isn't easy. But wherever it's grown, when the balance is right, it truly repays the effort

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 2024
Napa Cabernet 2021
Decanter

Napa Cabernet 2021

There's a lot of excitement about this vintage, in which conditions were relatively calm and temperatures stable through summer. Ongoing drought reduced yields but intensified flavours, but it means quantities are down and you may need to act fast to secure top wines. Our Napa correspondent selects 60 great wines from more than 500 that he tasted, with many very high scores

time-read
4 mins  |
September 2024
10 reason to discover Uruguay
Decanter

10 reason to discover Uruguay

Squeezed between Brazil and Argentina on the Atlantic coast, Uruguay has mostly flown under the tourist radar - until now. Once dubbed 'the Switzerland of the Americas', it's a welcoming country that has much to offer the travelling wine lover

time-read
5 mins  |
September 2024
Leo Erazo
Decanter

Leo Erazo

The old vines and special terroir of Itata, southern Chile, have beena source of inspiration for this intrepid winemaker. The 2023 fires were a setback, but his commitment to this ancient wine land is undiminished

time-read
8 mins  |
September 2024
Carmenère 30 YEARS IN CHILE
Decanter

Carmenère 30 YEARS IN CHILE

The unanticipated discovery in the Maipo Valley of this now-signature grape was Chilean wine's defining moment. Three decades on, some of the country’s leading winemakers reflect on how they made a lost French variety their own

time-read
10 mins  |
September 2024