NotesFor collectors, families and advisors

Selling a wine collection: auction, private sale or merchant

The right route depends on the wines, the timetable and the rules where the wine is kept. How each route works, and how to prepare a cellar so it sells well.

Parcel SevenOctober 20266-minute read

Auction

Auction suits wines with strong, documented demand: well-known Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and other collectible wines in good condition, especially in quantity or in original cases, and rare bottles with a clear history.

The process is broadly similar from house to house:

Inventory and estimate. You send a list of each wine, vintage, quantity, bottle size and where it is stored. The house replies with low and high estimates and proposes reserves, the confidential minimum below which a lot will not sell.
Agreement. The consignment agreement sets out how the house will group the wine into lots, how reserves work, what happens if you withdraw and what happens to unsold lots. Read it closely.
Collection. The house usually arranges packing and temperature-controlled transport, or sends a team to the cellar.
Inspection and cataloging. Specialists inspect, photograph and describe the wine. Major houses want it in their warehouse well before the sale, often ten weeks ahead. Some open sample bottles to judge how a collection was stored.
The sale. Houses run live sales, online sales lasting a week or two and, for notable cellars, single-owner sales.
Settlement. Payment typically follows four to six weeks after the sale, once the buyer has paid, and some houses pay part of it later. Unsold lots may be offered again.

Private sale

A private sale, arranged through a broker, a merchant or an auction house’s private sales department, trades the open competition of an auction for discretion, speed and a negotiated price. It suits single valuable lots, wines with a known buyer and owners who would rather not see their cellar in a catalog. Trade exchanges such as Liv-ex are open only to professional members, so a private seller reaches that market through a merchant.

Selling to, or through, a merchant

Some licensed retailers buy collections outright, paying on receipt rather than after a sale, and some take wine on consignment. Merchants generally accept a wider range of wines than the major auction houses, which makes this route useful for mature wines that fall below auction minimums, and for owners who value certainty over the chance of a higher result.

Which route for which wine

Sought-after wines in good condition, with records: auction, where competition between bidders can work in the seller’s favor, or a private sale if discretion matters more.
A large mixed cellar: often a combination, with the strongest wines at auction and the rest sold to or through a merchant.
A single rare bottle: auction or private sale, but only with documented provenance. Rare wines with no history are the hardest to place.
Mature wines for drinking: a merchant, or an online auction that specializes in wines ready to drink.

Choosing an auction house

Compare more than the estimates:

The specialists’ knowledge of your wines, and the house’s record with similar consignments.
Where and when it sells, and whether its buyers are the ones who want your wines.
How it inspects, photographs and describes wine, which shapes buyers’ confidence.
The terms: how lots are grouped, how reserves and withdrawals work, what happens to unsold lots, how the wine is insured and stored in the house’s care, and when you will be paid.

An estimate the market will not support helps no one. A credible one, with the wine well presented, usually does better.

The rules where the wine is kept

In the United States, selling wine generally requires a license, and retailers may normally buy only from licensed suppliers. Private collections are an exception that each state handles in its own way:

New York allows an unlicensed owner to sell to or through a licensed party, including at auction, with each bottle labeled as coming from a private collection.
California allows owners to sell older “vintage wine” bought at retail to a licensee, and offers executors and other fiduciaries a special temporary license to sell estate wine.
Illinois requires an auction liquor license for each auction, obtained in advance.
Texas allows certain sales of older wine from private collections, including by executors, to permitted restaurants.

In Canada, each province controls the sale of alcohol. Ontario issues auction permits to estate executors and administrators and to charities, and its secondary-market wine auctions run under the LCBO’s authority. In Quebec, sales go through auction houses authorized by the SAQ. Alberta can license a public auction of a collection or an estate by a licensed auction business. Elsewhere, ask the provincial regulator before assuming a route exists.

Wine can sometimes be sent to an auction house in another state or province, and sometimes not. You cannot mail it or ship it yourself with a major carrier; the house will usually arrange licensed, temperature-controlled transport.

Preparing the cellar

Preparation shows in the result:

Inventory. Use the house’s template where it has one, listing every wine, vintage, size and quantity.
Records. Purchase invoices and storage records are evidence of provenance, and some houses decline wine whose history is uncertain.
Storage. Wine in professional storage is easier to sell than wine from a passive home cellar.
Condition. Note fill levels, labels and capsules accurately. Worn labels can even be a sign of good, humid storage.
Decisions. Settle what you want to keep, and what you might drink, before inviting estimates.

Timing and the market

Allow time. Consignment deadlines for major sales fall five to ten weeks ahead, and cataloging a large cellar takes several weeks. Auction calendars center on a handful of major sales each year in New York, London, Geneva and Hong Kong, alongside weekly online sales. Avoid moving wine in summer heat; houses will often hold it in storage until the weather allows. And think about pace: a large holding of a single wine can be spread across more than one sale, or more than one route, rather than offered all at once.

A word on tax

In the United States, wine is classed as a collectible, and a gain on a collectible held for more than a year can be taxed at a higher maximum rate than most other long-term gains. Inherited wine generally takes as its basis its value at the date of death. In Canada, wine kept for your own enjoyment is personal-use property: gains must be reported while losses usually cannot be claimed. Wine held as an investment may be treated differently. In both countries the facts decide, so speak to your accountant before you sell.

Common mistakes

Selling directly to individuals without a licensed intermediary.
Shipping wine yourself, or in summer heat.
Arriving without purchase or storage records.
Setting reserves well above the estimates.
Signing a consignment agreement without reading the terms on withdrawal, storage after the sale and unsold lots.
Expecting payment on the day of the sale.
As an executor, overlooking the routes designed for estates.

This note is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Rules change and differ by state, province and country. For a particular wine, collection or estate, write to us.