Value My Champagne

If you are looking to sell single bottles to whole collections, then our recommendation is to contact Champagne Collectors – Tel: 01206 70088 or email: contact@champagnecollectors.com

• Free Valuations (on Champagne / Fine Wines).
• Free Information / History on your Champagne / Champagnes.
• A team with over 60 years of fine wine / Champagne experience including at Christie’s Fine Wine Auctions
• Have a large wine collection? Onsite valuation service available from our Master of Wine. We can visit your residence and value your wines.

“We have a database of nearly 10,000 Champagne enthusiast members globally which means we can offer the best prices for your Champagne, and in most situations, we put you in direct contact with the end buyer leaving out the profit consuming middle parties (our concept relies on buyers being paid from members of Champagne Collectors). Our internal team holds over half a century of Champagne experience working with some of the finest houses including Krug, Bollinger, Lanson, Ruinart and de Venoge. With over 10,000 labels tasted between us and being fellow Champagne collectors ourselves, we are in the best position to value and purchase your wines and equally as important, we help you to sell them to passionate collectors globally.” Christopher Walkey – Founder Champagne Collectors

Important factors to consider when selling (and buying) Champagne (and fine wines):

• Champagne house and label: There are simply tens of thousands of different Champagne labels out there so it is a pretty complex side of the wine industry. Nearly all Champagne that is produced and released is to be drunk now (or within the next 24 months). Champagne is, unlike many other wine styles, not only a famous wine region known all over the world, but many of the producers are equally as famous such as Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Bollinger – Many of us will not know of any Prosecco producers neither Burgundy, Bordeaux or Chianti etc. Less common are labels which are vintages (usually only produced 3/4 times per decade) or prestige, tete de cuvée or special release and these are more valuable (and likely to age far better). The first thing to consider when thinking about selling your Champagne is that if it has any value!
• Condition: Just where have you been storing it for the last few years? Yes, this is the most important question as poorly stored wine will not only effect the value of the wine(s), it will greatly effect the quality of the wine in the bottle. The best possible scenario is that the wines you have can be proven to have had storage in either a bonded warehouse, in a wine cellar or wine fridge – The biggest question here is proof as though words are nice, we can take them with a pinch of salt. Most times, Champagne will come with little history other than being stored in the side cabinet or under the stairs so either a close inspection of the bottle to check the status of the cork area / clarity of the wine / wine level (ullage) and more will be required. Defects affecting price also include damage to the foil area, the cork and especially the label.
• Volume: Sometimes it is better to sell individually your wines, though this is time consuming. Another factor enhancing prices is if you have multiple bottles of a single label and especially if six (case). Dividing wine collections is certainly a recommendation, especially in categories such as still/sparkling, French/Italian or Bordeaux/Australian.
• Timing: Do you want to sell as soon as possible? Are you prepared to invest time to research what you have online? Can you approach more than one potential buyer? Can you hold on to your wine(s) if the current market is not trending? Fine wines and especially those aged, have a passionate globally audience and there will likely always be no shortage of buyers both today and tomorrow. You should be in no real rush other than convenience, ie you need to make space / you are dealing with a divorce or death / the market is trending.

Preparing to sell your Champagne:

• Organise the wines you wish to sell: Gather all the wines together and ready for onsite valuation.
• List the wines ideally via computer file such as CSV which is easy to email to potential buyers.
• Take photos of the collection and if you can, each bottle individually.
• Testing a bottle might be a good thing especially if you have multiple and do so with a wine professional to gage the quality.
• Keep them safely stored, at all times, in a cool location and in the dark with ideally little to no movement/vibrations.