Building a cellar of fine wine
If you don't know where to start, we can help you. Here are our top tips:
1. Do you plan to drink these wines over the space of a few years or are you treating this as an investment opportunity? The wines you buy will be different depending on your answer. You may of course wish to do a mixture of both.
2. For investment, buy blue chip wines (first and second growth clarets and wines with cult status) . Buy these en primeur when the prices are generally at their lowest and keep for five to ten years or more. If buying older vintages, check the provenance carefully and how the wines have been stored. Ideally the wine should have been moved only once or twice since it left the chateau and not shipped to and fro across the Atlantic! Just as in the stock market, prices fluctuate and you are not guaranteed a return. Wine is exempt from Capital Gains Tax though. Track wine prices on the Liv-Ex website.
3. If you are building a cellar for enjoyment, then consider whether to commit a lump sum to start off and/or save a monthly amount to spread the cost. Work out how many cases you need of red, white, sparkling etc to cover your drinking requirements each year. Make a list of your favourite wines, regions or grape varieties. Stagger your purchases so that the wines are at their peak when you need them. As a guide we would suggest regular monthly payments of £100+.
As an example you may want a couple of cases of drinking claret in 8-10 years' time, so we would recommend buying third, fourth or fifth growths or good Cru Bourgeois en primeur from the 2009 vintage when it is released later this year. New World wines and European white wines can generally be purchased within a few years of the intended consumption date, so delay your purchase until there is a really good vintage of Chablis for example.
4. For a mixture of both investment and enjoyment, you can buy two cases of a wine, for example Chateau Leoville Barton, and sell one at a later date and hopefully have financed the drinking of the other. Once again, you are not guaranteed to make a profit but when this works it is quite a nice thought that you are drinking such lovely wine either for free or at a much reduced cost.
5. Buying well-known chateaux in Bordeaux is fairly straightforward although allocations are getting more difficult as demand grows from the Far East. Finding really good Burgundies (red or white) is trickier and you need expert advice. You can read reviews till the cows come home but there's nothing to beat talking to someone who's actually tasted at the vineyard, so do give us a ring. Our latest Burgundy offer is available to download here.
6. A note on Champagne: it pays to buy a few cases of good non-vintage Champagne and cellar them for 3-5 years. The creamy, toasty characters will develop and you will get more value for money. Also by the time you drink them you will have forgotten how much they cost! This is also a good tip if you think there may be a wedding looming...
Talk to us for help and advice
We can offer you advice tailored to your individual needs. So whether you are starting or expanding a cellar or looking to buy blue chip wines for investment, talk to us. Contact Aidan Bell on 01275 434988 or email aidanbell@dbmwines.co.uk.
Physically building a cellar in your home
Here are a few links to websites that can build a cellar for you or provide racking equipment:
Sorrells Wine Racks and Cellar conversions
