Private buyers · large cellar
Having your wine cellar stocked: make-up, selection, quote
A house, an empty cellar, room for two hundred to two thousand bottles. The tool suggests a make-up based on the space, the budget and the life of the house: everyday wines, great wines that are ready, wines for laying down, magnums for entertaining, champagne, whites and sweet wines. Then an adviser turns it into a named selection. We don't build cellars: we fill them.
The make-up
A magnum counts as two spaces. The result changes with each answer; nothing is sent until you click on the request.
How it works
- A first conversation. Your tastes, the life of the house, the budget, the years that matter in the family. The make-up above is the starting point. For the family's years: the family cellar.
- A named selection, case by case, with vintages and prices.
- Delivery, on the terms of the quote.
What we don't do: build or fit out a cellar. Racks, air conditioning, insulation, cabinets: that is an installer's job. We arrive when the cellar is ready, with the wine. For storage conditions, see the page building a wine cellar.
Why this split
A big cellar that doesn't get drunk properly is one where nobody dares open anything. Everyday wines protect the great wines; great wines that are already ready stop you opening the long-keepers too early; the wines for laying down, bought in great years, are what the cellar will be worth in fifteen years. Magnums and champagne follow the number of receptions: a dinner for twenty opens five to eight bottles and two of champagne.
Old vintages are the reason to buy from a wine merchant rather than from the estate: the children's birth years, the wedding year, a great year from the 1980s or 1990s for an occasion. The birth-year vintage page says which years are still drinking. Estate agents: see the buyer's gift. Wealth advisers and notaries: your clients' wine.
What budget to fill a cellar of 500 bottles?
From €10,000 with an average of €20 a bottle to €40,000 with an average of €80. The average doesn't tell the whole story: a good cellar mixes everyday wines at around €12 to €20 with classified growths well above that. The tool splits the budget without changing the average.
Should you buy everything at once?
No. Everyday wines and ready great wines first, the wines for laying down later, in two or three goes over one to two years: that lets you taste, buy the great years when they are released, and spread the spending. For a holiday home without a real cellar, see wine for a holiday home.
How many magnums should you plan?
One magnum per reception of ten to twelve people, over a year. A magnum ages more slowly than a bottle and makes an impression on a table; it takes two spaces in the cellar.
Can you fit out or build the cellar?
No. We sell the wine, not the racks or the air conditioning. A cellar ready for wine stays between 12 and 14 °C, in the dark, free of vibration, with a little humidity; an electric wine cabinet works for small capacities.