best wine storage uk

Whether you have an expanding collection of fine wines, or you're just starting out, wine storage can be a serious drain on space at home. But, help is at hand. , we've begun compiling a directory of reputable wine storage providers to help you keep your wine safe until you want to pull the cork.All rates are based on single, 12-bottle cases and include VAT. Discounts are normally available on more than one case. All storage is fully insured unless otherwise indicated. +44 (0)20 7908 0600 £13.50 (Colerne Reserve), £11.34 (Vinothèque) £15 flat delivery charge to mainland UK addresses. Receipt, handling and labelling charges apply. Armit offer the options of two wine storage facilities: Colerne Reserve (part of Octavian Group – please see below) or Vinothèque (part of LCB – please see below). Can choose to store wines either “duty paid” or “in bond”. Only wines purchased from Averys are eligible for wine storage, and only in full, straight cases of one wine.

+44 (0)20 7232 5470 Stored at LCB (See Below). Customers are invoiced in January. Up to £2 per case (+ VAT) for wines bought elsewhere and transferred in. Berry Bros. & Rudd +44 (0)20 7022 8973 Warehouse facilities in Basingstoke with temperature controlled at 10-12°C and 75% relative humidity. Delivery is free within the UK for an unmixed case or more and any delivery of less than an unmixed case is charged at £10 per product per delivery address. Big Yellow Self Storage Company +44 (0) 20 7736 5020 Based in the converted Fulham power station vaults hold 15, 30 or 45 cases, or there are full height rooms which hold up to 500 cases. The cellars are underground in fully climate-controlled conditions maintained at 10 to 13°C and at 50-70% humidity. Customers rent out the units weekly. +44 (0)20 7265 2400 Cellars are in Ayr, Scotland, and Corsham Cellars in Wiltshire. Free of charge delivery if you live on mainland UK. Price is correct for up to 5 cases, then is cheaper per unit as cases increase – more details here.

+44 (0)20 8858 9147 Wine storage duty-paid their Victorian Greenwich cellars, and in-bond storage at LCB Tilbury. Handling charge of £2.40 per case. +44 (0)20 7821 2000 Wine stored at Octavian with a dedicated team of 20 staff exclusively for Farr Vintners. +44 (0)20 7269 0703 +44 (0)20 7089 7400 Own area within LCB, Tilbury with dedicated team. Can collect the wine yourself or delivery is £16 + VAT. +44 (0)20 7484 6400 Wine storage with Octavian. They offer bonded and duty-paid storage. Delivery is charged at £18. +44 (0)1473 313 233 £13.44 (£10.32 if paying by direct debit) Stored at the Vinothèque bonded warehouse. Wines purchased elsewhere can be stored without additional admin charges. +44 (0)845 498 9918 LCB included LCB Vinotheque and LCB Dinton. +44 (0) 1932 334300 Underground store, a series of 17 tunnels approximately 1 mile in length, was built on the famous Brooklands site, and is administered by EHD’s staff.

Request our information pack Wine stored in perfect conditions increases in value. Octavian's premium cellarage services provide a peerless storage environment, offering everything your fine wine needs when laid down to mature - making it safer, finer and ultimately worth more. 10,000 private collectors, investors and wine merchants from 39 countries choose investment grade storage for their collections at our Corsham Cellars, some 100 feet below the Wiltshire Hills.
best spanish wine list From bonded warehousing to online photographic records of your collection - ideal for potential buyers - our services are wide ranging. As for our capabilities, you couldn't be in more accomplished hands. Please contact us should you require more information or to arrange a complimentary cellar tour.But what if you don't have a wine cellar? Perhaps some of your growing wine collection is spread between the cellars of various wine merchants, some of whom have eluded your memory entirely and will resurface after your death like a dormant Swiss bank account.

A little more resides in the dank cellar of the country cottage owned by the uncle of the girlfriend you split up with back in 2013 and now don't know what to do about. More of your fine wine is located in the area of your new built dockside apartment nearest the window, which you reckon is the coolest place. There are a few bottles of Meursault Poruzots stuffed into the back of your Smeg. The built-in wine rack that came with the kitchen was once filled with your prized labels to show off with, like that amphora-aged Anthyiterra from Oregon you bought in San Francisco last year. Then a wine-geek friend told you a kitchen with its dramatic temperature variations was the worst place in the house to store wine, so it is now filled with bottles of Highland Spring and the wines are now stewing slowly in a cardboard box in your study.If that sounds familiar, welcome to the world of wine loving in the 21st century, where brutally accelerating property prices for anyone who lives in an urban centre mean that, while we have never had a deeper or wider choice of fine wine, we have never had fewer places to store it in.

And that bodes ill for all of us in five, ten or 30 years, as we open the great bottles of today and find that they are beautifully packaged vinegar. For just one day of poor storage will kill a wine. I have learned this the hard way over the past 25 years. Here are some tips:Don't store your wine by a French window in the hope it will keep it cool. My first case of truly fine wine (Chateau Margaux from the lovely 1985 vintage) was stored this way; when I opened the first bottle a few years later it tasted like a blend of Worcestershire sauce and supermarket Balsamic. Temperaure fluctuation was to blame.Don't trust cases containing 11 out of 12 bottles being sold at auction. Not that I would have done that (the Margaux was used for cooking) Don't store wine in your kitchen - it's too hot. Or anywhere where it's warm enough to live.Don't automatically trust every country house cellar. One such cellar I entrusted my wines to had a small window which let in direct sunlight in summer.

The ensuing greenhouse effect resulted in a lot of ruined Riesling and catastrophic claret.Do store your wine in your merchant's customer reserve, or, much cooler, your own account at Octavian, the world's biggest bonded warehouse, in a former mine in Wiltshire. While this option ensures perfect provenance, it's also rather unemotional. Wine, for me, is like art or a classic car: I like to see it, stroke the labels, imagine the future memories to be gleaned from a bottle in five or 20 years. What will my life be like when I open this 2005 Chateau Haut Brion? A wine cellar is a place of escape, and needs to be near.Octavian (or other bonded warehouses like LCB's Vinotheque) ensure perfect storage conditions but it can't fix what's broken, and you don't get to see your wine unless you visit and inspect. Is the case damaged? Is the case original? Is there an indication it is ex-Asia or US-stock, possibly damaged in transit?What are the levels like on the bottles? Has the case been opened and patched together, indicating loose bottles inserted into a box, dressed up as "original carton" (a wine trade trick)?

You have to make the journey.Do build your own wine cellar if you can. If I had a large house, I would dig down and build a Eurocave-designed, temperature- and humidity-controlled wine room, with proper racking (not just bins: makes bottles horrible to see and remove), tasting table and sink. A sink shows you are serious, as you can hold a tasting without having to ask the staff for fresh glasses. If you go down this road, ensure you do it properly; an improperly sealed, poorly laid-out wine room is the worst option of all. There's an opportunity cost also: a celebrity billionaire recently complained to me he couldn't build a home cinema because his basement was occupied by his wine cellar and 25m pool. Beware.Do keep investment-category wines, aimed at resale, in Octavian. I keep my drinking wines in two garages which I have rented in a block nearby, and filled with wine cabinets. (A garage alone will not do for obvious reasons). There are 10cabinets in all, each holding between 100 and 200 bottles.

I have had the garages, and the cabinets, for five years, and have yet to open a bottle of oxidised wine in that period.Which brand of wine cabinet to buy?My verdict is below, but before that, a caveat: perfect storage cannot cure a wine that is already dead. If you buy fine wine, buy it from the merchant who is the agent of the producer or from a trusted merchant with proven third-party sources. Otherwise it's like buying a car with a missing service history. And if the wine has back or strip labels indicating export to Asia or the US, caveat emptor. What happened on that ship?There are 3 big players in this game:These are the big cabinets you see in restaurants and hotels.Expensive, well-designed, easy to use with a mould for each wine bottle, and very well insulated. But the shelving in some models is too narrow for the oversized bottles favoured by many producers, which can be frustrating or worse. Dual temperature-zone cabinets are a waste of money unless you are opening a wine bar.