Wine Auctions - Wine News

In order to buy fine wines around the world at good prices, you need the right as well as relevant information and sources.

The most important and currently updated information concerning fine wine prices, performance and trends of the market, you can find on Wine-Stocks.

The most common sources for fine wine prices are:

Private individuals, collectors, wine merchants, wine funds, wine auction houses, wine auctions, online stores, vineyards, wineries, hotels, restaurants, as well as pawnshops and even state institutions such as customs and police.

You need access in general to the same sources as for the purchase.

Fine wine price determination is an interaction of the free market forces of demand and supply, place and time.

Of mayor importance is the information level and information edge:

• How much is the actual price of the wine?
• What condition does the wine or wine box have?
• Is the wine already or still drinkable?
• Was the wine kept in adequate storage conditions?
• Did the wine get good rating results or prediction of wine critics?

Wine connoisseurs often see by only looking at the bottle, what condition the wine have. Indicators are:

• Ullage level “fill level” of the wine bottle
• Condition of the label and the capsule
• Color and texture of the wine
• Deposits
• Recently unfortunately from high important- originality

The most commonly used terms are listed below.

Mid neck ( MN) High level - excellent condition no visible loss of fluid, perfect

Base neck (BN) good level  - very good condition little loss, can also happen during bottling

Top shoulder (TS)Level OK - good condition slight losses, still in good conditions

High shoulder (HS)Level low - moderate status, higher risk

Upper shoulder(US) Low level - would be dangerous, but often normal for elder Burgundies

Mid Shoulder  (MS)Medium  - barely drinkable and very oxidized

Lower shoulder(LS) - nothing ventured, nothing gained

Below shoulder - expect nothing

Wine-Stock's wine prices and wine analyzes provide all member high quality fine wine expertise. Due to the numerousness trading points and information, you can with a high degree of probability determine the actual value of fine wines.

Please remind, that all prices accessible on Wine-Stocks are net prices and auction houses charge fees or/and taxes between 8 and 22%. So if you find a wine at the wine merchant or wine fund 20-30% higher than on Wine-Stocks, this is a fair price for the wine and the quality is often impeccable.

If you intent to sell your wines to wine merchant, wine funds, private persons or collectors, Wine-Stocks with its extensive database and updated prices will be the best source for wine expertise, especially for wine bottles in good condition. On wines with defects, depending on the age, discounts have to factor into price calculation.

On request and on fee basis Wine Stocks also acts as the appointed valuer and provides valuations of wine cellars and wine funds.

Caution – Prices information on Wine-Stocks in the free version are two years’ time-delayed and therefore just be used as rough orientation. In 24 months, fine wine prices sometimes fluctuate by 25-50%.

 If you possess a large wine cellar or prestige fine wines,  a one year membership from 99 € will be already worth, often just after selling/ buying one bottle of wine.

There are different options and thus various kind of risk levels.

The older the wine, the higher the risks. For purchasing old wines you need profound knowledge or you should call on professional consulting.

The safest way of wine purchase is direct buying from the winemaker. There are no middle man therefore lower prices and the probability to acquire wine with bad conditions is low.  The distribution strategies of some wineries do not provide direct sells, only négociants, who covers the region, can sell the wines. This way has also a low risk level.     

Wine funds often buy their wine in large quantities directly from the winery or wholesaler and offer these wines that they can buy without hesitation.

The more a wine has changed ownership, the higher the risk. For trading cars this sounds quite logic for us, for the wine business it is the same. It might go well in most cases, but not necessarily.

Other sources of purchase are hotels and restaurants. Here the interest is extremely high to satisfy customers with high quality, consequently risks are low. In this distribution channel many wines are not for sales, as most wines are consumed by customers.

General at local auction houses professionals are at your service, who valuate and certify each bottle of wine, and after deep examination estimate the value.

You get access to the "Ranges", a sort of price categorization where you find all detailed information and the examination results of the auctions house. High deviates of the estimates to reality are due to the fact that some wines in very bad or the opposite in perfect conditions are able to achieve exceptional prices.

Some online auction houses now also check each bottle of wine that is given to them for the auctions. Pure online platforms, which work without experts´ valuation, that trade wines from private to private individuals, provide extra risks. In this case is useful to consult expertise of other buyers as the basis of a risk assessment. You can minimize the risk just with little research, if you possess sufficient in-depth knowledge. In any case of need it is always good to hark back to help of a wine merchant or specialist of your choice.

If you want to sell your wines, Wine-Stocks is the most exhaustive source for all needed information. Do you have a wine cellar and you want to know its today´s value, simply integrate your wine cellar on Wine-Stocks, and you will have immediately access the real time value of your wine cellar. 

As a member N° 1 with an annual fee from 99 € you can examine already up to 750 different wines without size limitation, this will facilitate your selling and buying decisions especially in terms of prices and best date for selling.

All wine auction houses and wine merchants will appreciate your input as consolidated knowledge and you will reduce huge efforts and costly expertise as well as in most cases save a lot of money, because you are in the possession of the real time values of your wines