Question 1

My cellar is a mess. Is that unusual?

Accepted Answer

No. It is the norm for any collection that has grown steadily for a decade or more. Bottles arrive faster than they get logged and the record drifts. Almost every cellar we audit has bottles past their window, gaps in the paperwork, and at least one case nobody remembered buying.

Question 2

How is a wine advisor different from an auction house or a merchant?

Accepted Answer

A merchant has stock to move. An auction house needs the consignment. Neither is structurally able to tell you that the best decision is to do nothing. An advisor holds no inventory, so there is no bottle we need you to buy.

Question 3

How much does a cellar audit cost?

Accepted Answer

Audits are quoted per bottle after a short conversation and a few photographs of the space. The variables are collection size, how it is currently arranged, and whether existing records need reconciling against physical stock. There is no minimum collection size.

Question 4

Do you ever take custody of the wine?

Accepted Answer

No. Wine stays in your cellar or in a professional facility held in your name. We select and vet the facility, specify how the wine travels, and inspect on arrival, but title and custody never pass to us.

Question 5

When does a collection need a formal appraisal?

Accepted Answer

Four situations account for most of it: scheduling a collection on an insurance policy, settling an estate, substantiating a charitable donation or gift, and dividing assets. Each calls for a different valuation standard - replacement value for insurers, fair market value for estates, net realizable value when a sale is contemplated.

Question 6

How should fine wine be shipped and stored?

Accepted Answer

Wine wants a stable 55F, roughly 60 to 70 percent relative humidity, darkness, stillness, and above all the absence of swings. Any consequential move should travel refrigerated or in a validated insulated system with temperature logging you can review afterward, routed to avoid hub transfers and dock time, and insured at appraised value.

Question 7

Which auction house do you work with?

Accepted Answer

All of them, and none of them. Which house suits a collection depends on where its strength lies, which catalogues are already thick with the same producers, the reserve strategy, and what terms can be negotiated. That is an output of your collection and your objective.

Question 8

Where do you work?

Accepted Answer

We are based in Napa, California. Most on-site work is in Napa, Sonoma, and the Bay Area, and we travel for engagements elsewhere in the United States. Advisory work that does not require a physical visit is handled from anywhere.