Large private sellers offer good opportunity to buy a deep range of fine, matured wine. Since large cellars require large investment (time, knowledge, cellaring), they often hold pinnacle condition, high-quality wines.

The fine wine industry is small in South Africa and hence many private sellers are known by the fine wine team.

Successful Auction buyers need to select their delivery option upon check-out for each auction.

The following options will be available:

• Have your wine delivered to you by a courier company.
• Collect your wine from Wine Cellar in Observatory.
• Have your wine stored at Wine Cellar in Observatory.
• There will be no charge for the delivery of wines within South African borders, this amount is included in the hammer price.

Please allow for 10 – 15 working days for the delivery of your wines from the date of invoice receipt and payment confirmation. Delays in delivery will be communicated timeously. If urgent delivery is required, we can arrange for an overnight delivery service to main centres within South Africa, however the cost will be for the buyer’s account.

Buyers are to make sure that they can accept delivery of wine in their country / state before placing bids on the wines.

Buyers are to arrange their own shipping through our trusted partner,  The Vineyard Connection, who have been operating for 25 years.

Please note that the buyer is responsible for ALL shipping costs, including documentation.

Wines that are packed in wooden boxes may need to be repacked into PolyPaks to protect the wine against breakages. All cargo is insured against breakage and loss in transit with the exception of Surface Mail.

Wine is sensitive to temperature change, as well as light, heat and humidity. Therefore, correct storage is crucial for provenance and maturation. Wine Cellar in Observatory and Maitland, Cape Town provides the ideal conditions for both long and short-term wine storage. The temperature is controlled at 14°C, at a humidity of 70%, and is monitored and recorded daily, with CCTV, armed response, and generator backup. Access is only permitted with a member of Wine Cellar. Wine Cellar’s storage customers can view their cellared wines online and request withdrawals at the click of a button.

To open a Wine Cellar storage account please visit https://www.winecellar.co.za/wine-cellaring

Ullage is the amount of headspace between the closure and the liquid inside a wine bottle, i.e., the fill level. Over an extensive period, a drop in the level is expected through absorption and evaporation. Ullage is one of our best guides to indicate a bottles’ condition and lower levels in young bottles of wine are not accepted. In general, we do not accept levels below mid-shoulder in Bordeaux shaped bottles or 7cm in Burgundy bottles except in extremely rare and old examples.

Low ullage doesn’t always dictate quality however and the fine wine team have experienced many great vintage bottles of relatively low ullage.

Leaking corks of course also increase the ullage and could be the sign of a faulty cork or a clue that the wine had been exposed to high temperatures. Wines are generally not offered with leaking corks.

In young or old wines, leaking wines may still be perfect but carry more risk. Leaking wines may also prematurely show nutty, oxidized notes or stewed fruit.