Top tips for buying wine at auction

Why and how to buy wine at auction

Buying wine at auction is interesting, fun and exciting. It’s a way of getting your hands on rarer wines, wines from the cellars of serious collectors, or wines that are new to your palette - all at prices that are much lower than retail. Our November 2024 auction comes from collectors who have very fine mature wines, some from wonderfully historic vintages, and some from more recent vintages, but all of which are ready to drink now.

Chiswick Auctions offers a Buyer’s Premium of 21% plus VAT on all lots in this sale, compared to the usual 26% plus VAT. Additionally, there are no extra surcharges when you place commission bids or bid live through the Chiswick Auctions website, whether you're participating from your laptop or making a telephone bid anywhere in the world.

New to auctions? Read our guide to buying at auction here . If you would rather talk to someone directly, please email info@chiswickauctions.co.uk and a member of the client services team can talk you through the process.

Confidence in the wine you are bidding on

Our Wine Department is led by a Master of Wine, Christopher Burr MW. Christopher formerly headed up the Wine Department at Christie’s and has extensive experience across the industry as both an advisor and valuer to private collectors across the world. There are only 421 Masters of Wine worldwide, and the qualification represents exceptional expertise.

Complimenting his skills are Fran Bridgewater FCIM and Dr Richard Crowther, both of whom have a vast range of experience in the wine industry, from the strategic, marketing and judging points of view.

Ullage: what does this mean and why is it significant?

^{Diagram courtesy of Christie’s Wine Department and Christopher Burr MW}

Ullage is the unfilled air space at the top of the bottle – the fill level or headspace. In other words, it’s the gap between the cork and the wine. The diagram above (it is also under ‘Buyer’s Notes’ on the sale page on our website) explains the terms we use to describe the ullage, depending on the bottle type.

Christopher Burr MW comments

"The older wines in our sale have lower ullage because some of the wine has been lost over the length of time through evaporation. This is entirely to be expected. Where ullage is below mid-shoulder, we have sometimes tested the wine and included our comments in the tasting notes on the individual lot pages. Where a wine has significant ullage, we have reflected this in a lower estimate.

‘Top shoulder’ is normal for any claret more than 15 years old, and ‘mid shoulder’ is normal for a wine aged more than 30 or 40 years. Ullage is usually less of an issue with Burgundy wines, where it is measured in centimetres (see diagram). For example, ullage of 7cm is normal for a Burgundy more than 30 years old."

From the temperature-controlled South of France estate cellar of a major collector of fine and rare mature wines

“A significant portion of our sale is from the private French cellar of this serious collector. It is worth me saying a bit about provenance and condition, particularly for these "oldies", which mainly come from one major and well-known collector.

His passion for great wine obviously ensured he had a proper temperature-controlled cellar. Moreover,  it was very damp, which has tremendous advantages, but also its disadvantages.  The advantage is the preservation of damp corks, preventing air ingress. The disadvantage is the damage and poor quality of the old labels. On balance, the condition of the wine is very much the priority.

With some of the very old wines, the owner took it upon himself to recork bottles, and being in a wine producing area, was able to acquire a corking machine, (which we are also selling)  and good quality corks. Clearly the idea of sending bottles back to Port and Madeira Houses for reconditioning was not a sensible option.  With the fortified wines, he further decided, as these bottles are very scarce, to ensure the wine was topped up by adding a few marbles.

To be honest, I was nervous about the result of this marble addition, but on tasting some of the most ullaged bottles, the result is very good indeed” – Christopher Burr MW.

Mixed lots can be great bargains 

Our specialists have put these together where there are not enough wines of one type to make up a case. They can often be great value for money and afford an opportunity to explore wines one might not normally drink.