The Weird And Wonderful World Of Wine Collecting
I recently watched a documentary on Netflix on a wine collector gone rogue. He forged bottle labels, falsely advertised his wines as rarer vintages than they were and made a lot of money doing so. This, as bonkers and interesting as it was, was not what intrigued me most, however. No, what piqued my fascination was the world of wine collecting, generally. It’s an exclusive club, and the prices that some bottles fetched on the documentary were truly staggering to me. With that in mind, I wanted to look at some of the more head-turning industry facts, as well as why one of Store That E14’s storage units are the perfect storage place for any budding wine enthusiasts out there!
Let’s Talk Value
Whether you like to admit it or not, the first question that popped into your head probably pertained to the most valuable bottles of wine, available. Are you sitting down? Are your hands ready to pick your jaw up from the floor? Because they’ll need to be… At a charity auction, in 2000, a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyard ‘Screaming Eagle’ fetched a price of $500,000. That’s correct, half a million for a bottle of wine. Whichever way you look at it, that’s a whole lot of dough to be spending on fortified grape juice. I’ll stick to my bottle of plonk, thanks very much!
What About Collection Size?
You may think that some wealthy American or purist Frenchman can lay claim to housing the world’s largest wine collection. In actual fact, the title goes to a Moldovan wine producer called Milestii Mici. Their cellars (which run for over 34 miles in length) are home to over 2,000,000 bottles! Do you think they’re compensating for something? You can visit these ‘streets’ of wine – yes, you read that correctly, streets - as a tourist, and we can’t help but think if it’s got to the point where you’re effectively undertaking civic planningwith your wine, then your obsession may be going a little too far! Unfortunately, we must admit that our self-storage in East London wouldn’t hold that many bottles, but it would certainly hold a few
Starting Your Own Collection
If you live in the capital, but want to start your own fledgling collection, then our self-storage in East London may be just the place for you! There are many tips out there that you can get your hands on, but the key things to remember are as follows:
Decide at the start whether you’re going to be collecting solely for fun, or whether you see it as an investment opportunity! This will inform the type of wine you buy (whether you look for bottles which already have some collectable value upon purchase).
Make sure you have the money for it – this one sounds like a given, but wine collecting is an expensive hobby and shouldn’t be undertaken if you don’t have the disposable income to do so. It’s better to save up and do it properly, than to pursue it as a sort of gamble.
Don’t look to start with top vintages. You can’t enter the market at the top tier straight away, and this is the same as any industry where collecting is involved. By working your way up to more valuable items, you learn about your passion and garner a greater appreciation for what it is you’re collecting! And, as you become more professional, you may have to consider climatically controlled storage.
Personally, I don’t mind what wine I’m given so long as it keeps flowing! Some people have more taste, though, I’m told and for these people, wine collecting may now seem like a viable pastime! So, if you’d like to find out more about our self-storage in East London, then get in touch! Contact Store That E14 today on 020 7515 1300.