Where/how do I sell vintage wine? Are these even worth selling?

[Sera1989]

Wasn't sure which section to put this in!
A few years ago I was gifted about 10 bottles of vintage wine by a relative who had inherited them from a friend. No obligation to keep or drink them and I'm not a big drinker (I don't really like red at all) so would rather sell them.

I contacted a local specialist wine auctioneer who said they're not of sufficient value for their auctions, but I know there is some value in them. They are just taking up space and I could do with the money, even if it's just £100.

So what do I do? Is it worth entering them into a local "normal" auction or should I put them on eBay and work out how to package them without them breaking?
Pictures below of the bottles in case anyone knows anything about wine and can tell me whether they're even worth trying to sell!

Can you put them on a local FB or Gumtree page as buyer collect?

How have they been stored and for how long? If I was buying I would want to know this plus all the details - vintage year, vineyard, etc before parting with cash. Not all wines improve with storage.

I have been burned by buying a mixed case at a charity auction and it was totally corked. Probably stored upright in too warm a location, for too long.

You could get them valued here maybe: https://www.bidforwine.co.uk/valuations

I could put them on there and see if there's any interest. Thank you, these are questions I didn't know buyers would want to know! They were stored in a cellar until about four years ago, since they've been with me they've been on their side pointed slightly downwards. But they've been in the coldest room inside my house, max 17 in the winter and heating off about April - October so just ambient temperature. Have I ruined them? 🤦‍♀️

Based on what you said, they are probably fine.

My SIL and her husband don’t drink and served wine on Christmas which had been stored by the hot water tank. Now that was spoiled!

Good luck 👍🏻

You can't sell alcohol on marketplace (or eBay I think) so your listing will usually be automatically declined.

Sorry, meant to add, download Vivino app or something similar. It will give you an idea of price if it can scan the label.

And now I know I sound like an alcoholic, but I promise I am not😂

the main bottles are about £20 new - one there might be £40 new, and there are couple which would have been sub £10.
If you averaged them at £20 and there are 10, then c. £200 of wine - from merchant.

As you have no confirmed record of storage, that pulls the price back quite a bit - the ullage (level of wine) is mainly good, but not perfect...

I think you would be lucky to see someone wanting to pay more than 25p in the pound or c. £50 for them all (they would have to add auction fees as well...)

They are a risky purchase, some of them are wines not normally laid down for c. 30 years, so they might be over now - I would probably consider bidding £30-£40 for those ten bottles at an auction...

I would drink them or cook with them!

This isn’t what I was hoping for as I’m sure I’ve googled a couple of bottles before and they were quite expensive - but I know next to nothing about wine so they might’ve been slightly different or something. But thank you for letting me know and I’m not sure I’ll bother then, sounds like I’d spend more on packaging than they’re worth!

yes - sorry to sound negative - I used Wine Searcher Pro to look them up and find prices.

Older wines are very tricky to sell as storage will be the huge difference between drinkable and not - and as you can't check that until purchase, buyers are understandably wary.

When buying at auction - higher prices go for:

• well known brands (yours are a bit of a mix)
• storage provenance - most people will look for wines that were stored professionally in bond or out - but somewhere like Octavian which is temperature controlled, not having a solid provenance makes the price a lot lower as there is a high chance of an issue with at least some bottles - from what you say they have been stored well, but you still don't hve those records proving that...
• Specific years / vintages
• Specific types of wine (Bordeauxs / Burgundies / Super Tuscans / Barolos / Some desert wines such as Tokaji or Sauterne / etc.) you have a bit of a mix
• selling as a case - not individual bottles - most collectors buy as a case, so if there is less than a case to sell it suggests that possibly the bottles have been tried, not liked and the rest being sold off...