Vintage Wine Appraisals

Should you require a wine appraisal for insurance, estate planning, charitable, divorce proceedings or other purposes, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Frequently asked questions:

1) Why should I have my collection appraised?

The most obvious reason is for insurance purposes. If you are taking out a new policy, it is a must that you have an accurate valuation in case of damage or theft. Alternatively if you already have an insurance policy and theft or damage does occur, you will in all likelihood have to submit an evaluation of your loss to your insurance company. You may also consider assessing the value of your cellar for estate planning, charitable donation(s) or simply so that if and when you need to raise capital, you will know what it’s worth.

2) How do I go about having my collection appraised?

There are two ways. You can send me an Excel spread sheet that lists each bottle in your collection along with a brief description of the bottles’ condition (this applies to wines that are 20 years old or older or bottles that have “issues.”) If you do not have an inventory and feel that this is not something you want to undertake, I can come to you. Obviously the latter option has more expense involved, but in some cases it might be worthwhile.

3) Is Cellaraiders a licensed wine appraising entity?

Interestingly, there is no such thing in the United States as a wine appraiser’s license. Therefore, you should get recommendations from others or perhaps have two different professionals make an appraisal.

4) What is the cost?

As a general rule, I charge $5.00 per label, which is not per bottle. As an example, if you have 10 bottles with the same label it will cost you $5.00; on the other hand, if you have ten different labels, it will cost $50.

5) What if I want to sell my wine and you’ve made the appraisal?

As a courtesy, we will deduct the cost of the appraisal from the sale. Again, you may wish to get another appraisal at that time to verify the accuracy of our offer.