How To Sell Wine

Learn how to sell and trade wine

The Internet has changed the landscape for so many industries. This is especially true for the wine market. Not only retailers and wineries are seeing incredible ways to sell their wine to the public, but individuals now have real options.

Wines that are best to invest in and sell

The keys to selling wine you own are the conditions of the bottle, how was it stored, is it age worthy with possible upside and the price you are asking.

Age Worthy Wines

The best wines in the world all have one thing in common. They can be held for long periods of time. "Long" is subjective and will be different with each varietal. The wines that are in high price demand by collectors include:

Top growth Bordeaux - These upper growth chateaus, especially from stellar vintages like 1982, 1986, and 2000 fetch some of the highest prices in the world. These also can be stored for several decades. Top chateaus like Mouton Rothschild, Lafite and others can go 50 years. Great years like 1945 and 1961 are still going strong and sell in the several thousands of dollars.

Vintage Port Wine

Vintage Port is the most age-worthy of all wines. It is a fortified wine. In strong years, the top producers can age 100 years. Names like Fonseca, Taylor Fladgate and Warre's are just a few of the big names. People buy and sell port wine for profit. They are also less affected by sub-par storing conditions.

Fine Italian Wine

Barolo, Brunello and Amarone are the finest wines in Italy and collectors regularly buy and sell them online. They offer drinkability and storing for many years.

Top California Cabernet

Much of the wine sold online is in "Cult" or hard-to-get Wines. Wineries such as Screaming Eagle, Bryant Family and Harlan can sell for 2-3 times above their original bottle cost.

The Best Places To Sell Wine

Online auction websites

Winecommune is a good place to not only list your wine to sell, but get a gauge on the current prices for the wines you are considering to list. Unlike traditional wine auction houses like winebid that only work on consignment of large cellar inventories, winecommune allows you to sell one bottle or more.

Wine Message Forums

A good place to go is on wine message boards. Most of these boards have a buying and selling section. They are free to join and you should become an active poster to gain the trust of the other members. Members sell to each other and there is no transaction fee as it is all done privately.

Storage

Properly storing wine, not only for the seller - but for the buyer is a key. There are many affordable temperature controlled storage units available up to high end wine cabinets.

All in all, selling wine can be a profitable hobby. Having a true passion for wine will only help in your success. Don't treat it as just dollars and cents.