Wine Prices: How To Find The Value Of Vintage Wine

Just because a bottle of wine is old and dusty doesn't mean it is "vintage". This is the general opinion of most people who are not familiar with the ways of wine and the wine markets. What makes a wine a vintage is the year the grapes used to produce the wine were harvested. There are certain years when the climate is perfect for a grape growing these years are declared vintage years and wine made from these grapes are the ones that are highly prized and sought after. Learning which years were vintage years according to the wine growers themselves will help you to determine whether the old bottle you found is worth anything or not.

There are ways to determine the value on your own but it is always best to seek the advice of a professional appraisers. The internet offers a vast array of information and valuation on different collections. It may be that you will be able to find one similar to what you have and get a rough idea of what you hold. Having this knowledge will enable you to negotiate a better selling price with a potential buyer and also help you to see if a broker is undervaluing your collection.

Wine auctions normally exaggerate the value of a collection in hopes of getting you to allow them to sell your collection. This is bad for you since the only one that will make a profit is the auction house if the wine sells far below the actual value. Wine retailers are actually at the opposite end of the spectrum. They tend to undervalue collections, they will do this if they think you are a complete novice and not savvy enough to compare their estimate with several others.

To avoid all of this you should hire a professional wine appraiser. This can also be a bit of a risk if you or someone you know doesn't happen to one personally. Wine appraisers are like any other service; you normally get what you are willing to pay for. This is not to say that the more they charge, the more accurate the appraisal but if you are thinking of hiring one for 19.99 rethink that thought. If the appraiser's rates are too low then quite naturally the quality of their work may be inferior.

In the wine game time is often money. If you are concerned with selling before a specific time frame you may want to forgo a personal internet search and sip straight to the professional appraisal.


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Pat Lindle is a well-known wine broker based out of Phoenix, AZ. He encourages wine lovers to buy wine online whenever they can at his online store, appropriately called iBuyWineOnline.