In barely ten years, wine auctions have won over not only professionals but also private buyers on the lookout for good opportunities. “Curious drinkers, label hunters, investors or collectors, they form a loyal and increasingly young audience who love to track down rare bottles and vintages that are hard or impossible to find elsewhere.”
How was it stored?
Today, the challenge for experts and serious enthusiasts is less about selling than about making sure of a lot’s provenance and its condition. It is a question of reputation! When? Under what conditions was it stored? These specialists carry out real investigations, and for good reason.
“Storage conditions are essential when appraising a bottle. Any speculator worthy of the name reserves the right to refuse to sell a bottle whose integrity they cannot guarantee, even if it is a prestige cuvée.”
A fine bottle is a well-stored bottle
When it comes to how wine is stored, most experts have no preference between a natural cellar, a mechanically cooled cellar or wine cabinets designed for ageing, but they are extremely demanding about how well the chosen solution performs.
A custom cellar has to offer much more than good looks. It must have everything a natural cellar provides: a stable temperature of around 12 °C, proper humidity at all times, and good insulation to limit how much the cooling unit runs, since it dries out the air in the cellar. “Watch out for uninsulated glass walls, which are ruled out for ageing wine well.” Cavea glass, designed for modern wine cellars, is a good compromise for enthusiasts who want something more attractive.
The benchmark for wine cabinets is without question EuroCave, recognised worldwide by experts and informed enthusiasts for ageing wine properly and, in this case, for preserving its full value.
Whenever possible, the experts take a physical inventory of the lots directly in the client’s cellar, which lets them assess the conditions in which the bottles were kept. Whatever the cellar or wine cabinet, the conditions have to be optimal.
Better a great wine that was well stored than a very great wine that aged badly. Because with wine, and this of course applies at auction, you are not only buying a label, but also how it has aged.
First published in Vins & Vignobles magazine, vol. 21, no. 1. Photos: Vin & Passion.
