Selling Wine

Collectors of valuable items with limited supply know that there are some stores in the world’s larger cities that specialize in rare items like antiques, unique jewelry, classic automobiles, and of course, fine wines.  However, buyers of collectable wine use other networks that are not so easy to tap into to make almost all of their valuable purchases.  The prices that you will see at retail stores or eCommerce sellers are always inflated and not realistic representations of what your wine collection is worth in the real market for wine. 

Retail sellers list their stock at full retail, reflecting the absolute top value that a bottle of wine could ever sell for.  No knowledgeable buyer of vintage wine will ever pay a full retail price, and rarely will they ever buy from a specialty retailer.  Most high level retailers know this, and put excessive prices on their best products, as they know that these items are usually the best advertisement they have for other less valuable stock that they expect to sell more rapidly. 

Determining the actual market value of your wine collection involves much more than looking at retail prices.  We can assist you with working through the complicated market factors involved in determining a particular wine’s value. 

The basic rules of supply and demand determine the price of just about everything that people want to buy and sell.  When items are in high demand and the supply is limited, their price will be expensive relative to things that are not in high demand or that are in plentiful supply. 

With regard to wine prices, demand is the most relevant factor most of the time.  The supply of expensive wines is fairly definable by those who are experts in the marketplace.  Customer demand is harder to pin down, as styles and preferences can change over time, sometimes quickly.  Experts also have expertise and judgment that can reveal the vintages and labels that have real staying power in the minds of buyers–that is to say, the classic wines that are always in demand under almost any conditions. 

We are always prepared to provide our expertise and guidance in determining the rarity of your wines and the current demand for it in the market.

You should always remember that the actual value of your wine eventually comes from a subjective judgment made by both you and a buyer.  Everyone has their own idea of what a collectable item is worth to them, and that idea can change from day to day or even moment to moment. 

A collector who has great interest in completing some part of a collection that has a particular need for the wine you own will have an entirely different concept of what it is worth compared to another collector who is not interested in your particular wine for whatever reason.  Expertise and particularized market knowledge about what buyers are interested in from day to day plays a key role in providing reliable estimates of value.

The takeaway is that any listing of prices online or anywhere else cannot be depended upon as a guarantee of value, or even a reliable indication of value.  The value of your wine ultimately will always be what a ready, willing, and able purchaser that you can locate is willing to pay.  We can help you with assessing the subjective factors that affect the value of your wine collection. 

As we discussed, value is ultimately a subjective judgment.  As a result, appraising collectible wine is an art, and not a matter of number-crunching like figuring out the value of a commodity.  As a result, appraisals are educated guesses.  That means, of course, that the education of the person making the guess is the most important factor.  That education is made up of experience, good judgment, and accurate research and meaningful market information.

An important part of the research that goes into appraising value is comparing recent sales of similar wines.  For many wines, and especially rare wines, finding meaningful comparable sales can be very difficult.  Public information is often limited to auction sales, which we will see are not reliable price indicators.  Auction prices are known for highly variable outcomes based on unlimited and often unknowable factors.  The key to knowing something about comparable sales is deep knowledge of the market for wine around the world.  We will be pleased to assist you in determining the value of your collection. 

This is another area where good value judgments require expertise and particularized knowledge.  Not every wine improves with age.  Maturity and improvement through aging typically only applies to red wines.  Aging in the bottle reduces tannin and acidity.  The wines that do improve over time have a limit where further aging decreases the quality of the wine. 

Research and monitoring are needed to place a reasonable value on a wine’s level of maturity at any time.  The only data that really reveals the maturing process of a given vintage comes from tastings of bottles that are opened.  Wine investors and journalists follow this sort of information closely, which (hopefully) leads to a consensus of some sort on the maturity pattern of a given vintage wine. 

Many people get into buying and selling wine simply because they love wine and want to broaden their experiences and enjoyment through trying out different vintages.  Some people have collected more wine than they could ever drink and want to sell some of their collection for that reason.  Other times a vintage has reached peak maturity and needs to be sold to obtain maximum value.  Many valuable collections that we have bought over the years came from inheritance or from great finds at estate sales. 

The market for collectible wine is highly volatile, and sometimes large price fluctuations are seen that appear to come out of the blue.  The key to understanding the market and gauging the best time to sell depends on expertise and deep knowledge of market conditions.  We will be pleased to work with you to assess the current value of your wine and help you determine if you would like to sell your collection.