Wine Owners wine probate: a new service for lawyers and trustees

Maximising value for your clients

For a wine collection worth £20,000, beneficiaries would receive as much as £4,500 more than from an auction house.

We help you to retain a very high proportion of sales proceeds thanks to low sales commissions of no more than 6.5% + VAT, and the lowest trading fees in the market. Any miscellaneous items we incur in the preparation of wine for sale - eg new cardboard packaging, collection, fully insured transportation to a warehouse and landing fees - are all recharged at cost. For an average sized cellar all miscellaneous items are likely to cost a total of £150-200+VAT.

The most accurate, transparent market pricing

Accurate pricing is determined transparently through market data. Many of the UK’s top wine merchants and bonded warehouses rely on our pricing database which is updated weekly from the £150,000,000 worth of fine wine tracked through the site. Wine Owners’ undisputed authority on market pricing is ensured by its independence and unbiased position - it never owns wine.

Fast sale and payment

The WO Exchange has more than £6,000,000 worth of bids waiting for sellers’ wines to buy, so wines will sell quickly - you don’t have to wait for the next auction to take place. Wines can be offered for sale as soon as they are they are received into a custodial account. Furthermore, funds are transferred to your account as soon as each wine is sold, so you are not waiting for an entire collection to sell through.

For home-stored wines

We send an expert to appraise the wines, take photos, label and pack them in drop-proof boxes, and organise collection. Within a week the wines will be in a secure warehouse account, ready to offer for sale.

For wines in professional storage

It is even easier. Simply request a spreadsheet of the deceased’s wine from the wine warehouse or wine merchant storing them. Without exception, they can provide it. Send the spreadsheet to us for an immediate valuation. A professional probate valuation will cost no more than £500 in line with the size of a cellar.

Small cellars of less than 10 cases are valued free of charge. Wine Owners will then list them for sale and you get paid immediately on settlement of trades.

Large collections of good quality will typically sell in 2-8 weeks – far quicker than the time it takes to consign wines to auction

Totally transparent and documented

We handle all logistics and audit the whole process. You can track exactly what’s selling, what your proceeds and fees are, when you were paid, all in your online account. Detailed reports can be downloaded at any time.