Professional wine storage in the UK

This background article, part of our extensive free Resources section, has been substantially updated from its 2005 original to take account of costs and conditions applicable in Aug 2007 but we would welcome any comments from those with experiences of these operators sent via the Comment box at the bottom of this article.

As you can see below, there is considerable variation in the amounts charged by different merchants and professional warehouse operations. Merchants in general quote lower rates than the professionals, presumably in an attempt to lure customers to buy wine through them - or perhaps because they don't know quite as well as the professionals exactly what is involved in providing this service.

The following is an updated version [Aug 2007] of the UK part of an international survey of professional wine storage services which I published in 2003. Rates include VAT and are for a conventional case of a dozen bottles of wine per year. Corney & Barrow and Farr Vintners have not increased their charges in the last four years at all. No-one has increased them outrageously. (Bear in mind that Smith & Taylor offer a very different tailor-made service from anyone else, involving lockers of specific sizes and lots of personal add-ons, so is not directly comparable.)

You can see that online access has become much more the norm, that The Wine Society still offers very good prices but they like to restrict themselves to wines bought through the Society (a marked tendency in most merchants, mind you) but that overall Seckford offers the best value in their Suffolk warehouse.

Name	Location	Rate per case	I/D/O
John Armit	Octavian, Corsham, Wilts	10.57(a)	yes/yes/yes
Berry Bros	Basingstoke, Hants	9.00	yes/yes/yes
Bordeaux Index	Vinothèque, Burton-on-Trent	8.81	yes/no/no
Corney & Barrow	Octavian, Corsham, Wilts	9.17	yes/yes/yes
Farr Vintners	Octavian, Corsham, Wilts	8.81	yes/no/no
Justerini & Brooks	Octavian, Corsham, Wilts	9.00(b)	yes/yes/no
Lay & Wheeler	Vinothèque, Burton-on-Trent	10.56(c)	yes/no/yes
Locke-King Vaults	EHD London No 1 Bond, Weybridge	12.00(d)	yes/no/yes
London City Bond	Vinothèque, Burton-on-Trent	14.38(e)	yes/no/yes
Nexus	Octavian or Vinothèque	10.58(f)	yes/no/yes
Octavian	Corsham, Wilts	14.87(g)	yes/no/yes
Private Reserves	Octavian, Corsham, Wilts	9.34 (4.68 c/s 6)	yes/no/yes
Seckford	Suffolk	6.46	yes/no/yes
Smith & Taylor	London (and Brandfords, Manchester)	34.37(h)	no/no/no
Wine Society	Stevenage, Herts	7.44	yes/yes/yes

Rate per case - Maximum charges in pounds, calculated as a VAT-inclusive sum for 12 bottles stored for 12 months, assuming full take-up of the minimum quantity accepted - although costs may fall dramatically for larger quantities.

I/D/O - Insurance included/Free delivery/Online access

(a) The rates fall for larger quantities. This is the price for fewer than 50 c/s.

(b) This rate applies only to wines bought from Justerinis. For all others, it is £18.

(c) This is a sliding scale (down to £7.32 if you have more than 200 c/s) but don't forget that annual charge of £35 of course…

(d) Rates are reduced for larger quantities. This is the price for less than 50 cases.

(e) At this standard rate, the insurance replacement value is capped at £7,500 per 9-litre case. If you want to avoid this cap, the 'enhanced' monthly rate is £21.57. And discounted rates are available to customers of selected merchants who also store with London City Bond (approx 20%).

(f) The rate goes down to £8.46 for 100-500 cases.

(g) This, updated Sep 2008, is the price for the Octavian Vaults new premium service. Octavian's rates fall particularly dramatically for larger quantities. I have given the price for a total of 6-30 cases here. (There's a minimum charge of £90 for 1-5 cases.)

(h) Smith & Taylor let out space in units, I have assumed take-up of a unit which can hold 8 cases but rates fall substantially for larger amounts.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Full contact details can be found at the bottom of this article.

THE MERCHANTS

Armit - Dedicated, professional operation, recently taken over by a Dutch company, taken very seriously with good experience of shipping internationally. Storage charges, unusually, by the litre rather than the case but the price shown above is the 9-litre case equivalent. Very user-friendly but not cheap. Willing to store wine bought from other merchants. Very good individual feedback on wine collections, both value and maturity.

Berry Bros - Own expanding warehouses in Basingstoke with temperature controlled at 10-12°C and 75 per cent relative humidity. Reasonably but not brilliantly useful stock reports. They do give maturity guidance on individual wines although it may sometimes be better to look up individual wines on their website.

Bordeaux Index - Competitive rates and no extra charge for wine bought from other merchants. They'll store your wine even if you have never bought from them. Average storage temperature at Vinothèque is 13ºC, 60-65% humidity. Reduced rate for 6-bottle cases (£3.50 + VAT). Customers are invoiced twice a year and receive information on drinking dates and investment potential, plus Robert Parker scores - also available on request at other times, free of charge. There's a minimum charge of one year. For wines bought from them, they'll provide free condition reports with digital photographs (otherwise £2.50 per case). On-line access in the pipeline.

Corney & Barrow - Six-bottle cases are charged at half of a full case. They also charge in arrears, and will store wines bought elsewhere for a relatively modest admin charge on booking them in. Drinking dates are given for the wines on the C&B list; for further drinking dates customers can speak to the sales person specifically allocated to their account.

Farr Vintners - This fine wine trader is Octavian's biggest single customer and nearly 20 Octavian staff are dedicated to Farr Vintners exclusively. There are admin charges for such things as change of ownership and few frills but you can store both in bond and duty paid and Farr's logistics staff seem particularly on the ball. This is a no-frills service without specific advice on when to drink particular wines. Three months' free storage for wines bought through them.

Justerini & Brooks - Operates under the name of a subsidiary company, Cellarers (Wines) Ltd. Wines purchased from suppliers other than Justerini and Brooks may be stored at their discretion. There's bonded and duty-paid storage. This is the safe-as-houses fine wine subsidiary of Diageo. Six bottles charged as 12. There's free delivery but not especially specific annual advice on the portfolio.

Lay & Wheeler - Family-owned Colchester wine merchant with over 30 years' experience of storing fine wines was taken over by the Majestic wine warehouse chain in 2009. At one stage they owned the Vinothèque bonded warehouse but sold it to LCB. In 2005 they introduced an annual fee of £35 for their enhanced 'Portfolio Service'. They provide quarterly market valuations and a regular review of drinking dates. Wines purchased elsewhere can be stored without additional admin charges.

Seckford Wines - An unusual, and very good-value service operated from a private bond in Suffolk owned by wine merchants Seckford which means that customers have to buy a case of wine (any wine) from Seckford's wine merchant arm before they may take advantage of this bonded warehouse built as recently as 1997. Managing collections is a speciality with them charging a 10 per cent commission on subsequent sales. Their online access to individual customers' accounts offers detailed advice on individual wines and electronic images of individual bottles. They will store wine bought elsewhere and have some duty-paid storage too. Delivery to London is next day and costs at least £10. Temperature varies between 8 and 15°C and relative humidity is around 60 per cent.

The Wine Society - This wine-buying cooperative offers some of the best value and is certainly wine-minded but you have to be a member and the wines have to have been bought from them. Can be mixed dozens though. Relative humidity just 50 per cent but no ill effects have been known. Constant average temperature of 13°C, humidity 65 per cent. All storage is duty paid. Suggested drinking dates for individual wines provided annually and on request

THE PROFESSIONALS

Locke-King Vaults - is the fine-wine storage facility of the HM Revenue & Customs approved bonded warehouse EHD London No 1 Bond, established by brothers Michael and Stuart Phelps in 2000. The Vaults are located 30 minutes from Central London in a series of 17 interconnecting underground tunnels, formerly World War II air-raid shelters. They provide constant temperatures of 12 °C and a humidity range of 60-70%. Rates are applied annually from 1 Jan with fees per month charged before then. Exact rates vary according to the quantity and value of cases (see table above). Comprehensive conditioning reports are available upon request and the company also offers a national and international delivery service.

London City Bond - This large warehousing company operates many sites around London but the ones dedicated to individuals' fine wine are at Tilbury and Burton-on-Trent. Temperatures at Vinothèque, by far their best facility, range from 11 to 15 °C (but with no sudden changes due to the thickness of the walls) and humidity is in the range 61-67%. They allow private customers to visit the site and offer online monitoring of the account, including providing images of specific wines to assist with sales to third parties. Annual rates apply from 1 January with fees per month charged before then. No advice on when to drink or sell though.

Nexus - Founded by Mark Bevan (ex Armit), Nexus makes it much easier for those who buy their wines from more than one merchant but want to store it all in one place and have one source of information on their wines - including the option of tracking the wine's progress from the producer to the bonded warehouse. You just give Nexus the details of your purchase and they liaise with the merchant. The receiving charge of £3.75 + VAT per case is reduced to £2.75 + VAT if you are buying wine from one a number of 'affiliated' companies - currently Haynes Hanson & Clark, HS Liquid Assets, Clarion Wines, MARC Fine Wines and Oliver Wines but the list is likely to grow. Merchants' assessments of maturity etc are passed on via Nexus, though they can provide independent information for a small fee. There's plenty of flexibility in terms of delivery, if you are willing to pay a little more.

Octavian - Hyper-efficient, particularly good at the nitpicking detail required by H M Customs & Excise but for private individuals the paperwork is cumbersome and the fees are very high. You are charged at every turn and there's the same initial fee to set up an account whether you have one or five cases. Since this is basically a disused limestone quarry, anyone visiting the cellars has to wear special equipment. (see long article about Octavian) The place is certainly very secure and expandable (the size of 18 football pitches in total, I think). Temperature (constant 13 °C) and humidity are computer controlled. You can store in bond or duty paid and Octavian offer next-day delivery within the M25 as well as collection from any location in the UK. Free valuations and drinking dates on request. However, it's cheaper and easier to store with a merchant who uses Octavian, the most bureaucratic of the warehouses (and probably therefore the one with the least problems with HM Customs & Excise).

Private Reserves (London office: c/o Goedhuis & Co) - Run by Laura Goedhuis, wife of London wine merchant Johnny Goedhuis, with great dedication to a wine collector's needs, including an online service. Delivery is charged at cost from Octavian where the wines are stored. They will store wines bought elsewhere for an admin charge of up to £3.50 a case and offer half-price for six-bottle cases. First-class individual feedback on each wine giving independent assessments of quality and monitoring of maturity that will include emailing customers to tell them it's time to drink something. Three-monthly update on wine valuations (via Liv-ex). Bravo!

Smith & Taylor - Very personal service for duty-paid reserves on the American locker model. They offer volumes of either 8, 15, 30 or 60 cases. In-bond storage offered courtesy of Brandfords in Manchester. Their six-monthly reports come in unparalleled detail on extremely thick paper, detailing exactly from whom the wine was bought. Owner Sebastian Riley-Smith is particularly proud of sealing all wooden cases with a steel band, and of labelling each with the name of the owner. I had visions of this being a little winey nest in Battersea which Sloanes could raid in the middle of a dinner party but it is open only 9-5, Monday to Friday. But if you want a long talk about wine while picking some up, this is your place. The annual per case rate, which is calculated on the basis of full lockers and looks very high for eight cases, comes down to around £25 if 60 cases are stored. They don't charge when wine comes goes out (unless it is in bond) so their charges are not as high as at first they appear. Their more expensive and extensive 'value appraised' service is charged on the basis of a valuation of the wine and includes suggested drinking dates. They also design and build beautiful made-to-measure hardwood wine storage in private homes. And they even offer 'Nursery' cellarage for that one case awaiting its owner's coming of age.

CONTACT DETAILS

Armit
5 Royalty Studios
105 Lancaster Road
London W11 1QF
tel +44 (0)20 7908 0600
fax +44 (0)20 7908 0601
info@armit.co.uk
www.armit.co.uk

Berry Bros & Rudd
Houndmills
Basingstoke
Hampshire RG21 2YH
tel +44 (0)1256 323566
fax +44 (0)1256 479558
orders@bbr.com
www.bbr.com

Bordeaux Index
6th Floor
159-173 St John Street
London EC1V 4QJ
tel +44 (0)20 7253 2110
fax +44 (0)20 7490 1955
sales@bordeauxindex.com
www.bordeauxindex.com/storage.php

Corney & Barrow
No 1 Thomas More Street
London E1W 1YZ
tel +44 (0)020 7265 2400
sales@corneyandbarrow.com
www.corneyandbarrow.com

Farr Vintners
220 Queenstown Road
London SW8 4LP
tel +44 (0)20 7821 2000
fax +44 (0)20 7821 2020
sales@farr-vintners.com
www.farr-vintners.com

Justerini & Brooks
61 St James's Street
London SW1A 1LZ
tel +44 (0)20 7484 6400
fax +44 (0)20 7484 6499
www.justerinis.com

Lay & Wheeler
Holton Park
Holton St Mary
Suffolk CO7 6NN
tel +44 (0)845 330 1855
fax +44 (0)845 330 4095
sales@laywheeler.com
www.laywheeler.com

Locke-King Vaults
c/o EHD London No 1 Bond Limited
Unit A, Vickers Drive North
Brooklands Industrial Park
Weybridge
Surrey
KT13 0YU
tel +44 1932 334300
lkv@ehdlondon.com
www.ehdlondon.com

London City Bond (LCB)
Schooner House
Tilbury Freeport
Tilbury
Essex RM18 7NN
tel +44 (0)1375 853 700
fax +44 (0)1375 487 110
info@lcb.co.uk
www.lcb.co.uk

Nexus Wine Collections
The Studio
63 Hemstal Road
London NW6 2AD
tel +44 (0)20 7625 9800
fax +44 (0)20 7625 9802
www.nexuswine.co.uk

Octavian
Eastlays, Gastard
Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 9PP
tel +44 (0)1225 810735
fax +44 (0)1225 811369
www.octavian.co.uk

Private Reserves
Grange Farm, Holdenby
Northants NN6 8DJ
tel +44 (0)1604 770759
fax +44 (0)1604 770793
info@privatereservesltd.com

Seckford Wines
Dock Lane
Melton, Ipswich
Suffolk IP12 1PE
tel +44 (0)1394 446622
fax +44 (0)1394 446633
marcus@seckfordwines.co.uk
www.seckfordwines.co.uk

Smith & Taylor
1c Broughton Street
London SW8 3QJ
tel +44 (0)20 7627 5070
fax +44 (0)20 7622 8235
cellar@smithandtaylor.com
www.smithandtaylor.com

The Wine Society
Gunnels Wood Road
Stevenage, Herts SG1 2BG
tel +44 (0)1438 741177
fax +44 (0)1438 741392
memberservices@thewinesociety.com
www.thewinesociety.com