About to undertake building work and need to get the house emptied out. We have a large cellar with (it turns out) more wine than I appreciated.
While I try not to be too precious about it - cellar storage is perfectly adequate for me, rather than needing wine fridge(s) - the question of where 40+ cases can live for 6 months was problematic. Turns out Big Yellow - those self-storage people - have just introduced storage for wine at a couple of London locations (I am 2 miles from Kings X location).
Really impressed - fantastic covered loading zone, climate controlled wine storage (in the basement), security looks great. Really helpful staff - would highly recommend- at a price. Certainly exactly meets my needs.
Not something that came up - as you say, once the wine is home you face a different range of choices.
Like many here, I buy my wine (incl EP) from a multitude of sources, but only place I keep it in bond is TWS.
Probably a good thing as I am not the most organised/ the best record keeper- tend to enjoy the odd surprise as I rootle through the stocks rather than knowing exactly what I have.
That said, the exertion of the last few days demonstrates a need for a bit less focus / a bit more variety in my buying. Slightly surprised- and very pleased- to find 8 cases of Ridge in the house…
Forgive the questions, it’s a subject that is becoming pressing for me for the first time, so considering options for some of my home stock. This could be interesting.
I assume with them you pay for a fixed volume of storage space, and the effective cost per case will vary depending how much you fill up the space?
Do they offer insurance or do you do it separately? They did have a fire at their Fulham location a couple of years ago which I think affected the wine storage areas there, so while hopefully lightning wouldn’t strike twice, guess it would be prudent…
Who are the other options for wine no longer IB? I was considering checking L&W and Seckfords, though haven’t got round to finding out if either of them accepts (a) wine not IB and (b) self-mixed cases, since I have few full cases of anything. I know L&W have had issues with switching to their new warehouse, but presumably that will improve over time.
L&W will accept mixed cases from home as I have sent them a few.
It takes ages to get them booked in to your reserves when they arrive (mine sent in April are still not showing for example), but if this is a problem depends if they are wines to drink soon or store. Mine were for longer term storage so I am treating it as free storage until they are booked in.
I did not get very far looking at storage alternatives- this was convenient and I needed to act quickly.
A choice of different size units - mine sold as taking 40 Bordeaux style cases. Think it will ultimately take 48-50 cases as I have lots of flat 12 packs (and 6 packs), so can make very efficient use of space.
Like all self storage your goods have to be insured (price for that is on top of the quoted rental for the space). I think you can get standalone insurance from independent 3rd party, but did not explore that - hard to imagine the savings over the 6 month period I expect to use the space are worth the hassle. I will probably need to up my insurance cover as I can fit more wine than they expect.
Wine storage is a new offering (I think). Certainly impressed by the space at Kings X, suspect you can negotiate a better rate from them than I did as usage looks low given it is new product line.
I got a quote from The Big Yellow in Fulham in April. It was ÂŁ8.70 a week for a 15 case space. ÂŁ4.35pw for the first 8 weeks as they have a 50% off intro offer, or did at the time. In the end, I decided against it due to the cost. Thought that it was probably more suited to shorter-term storage needs rather a longer-term arrangement.
ARC Reserves will accept both DP cases, and your own self-mixed cases. Good storage facility by all accounts, though I haven’t visited; I have some of these there.
Seckford (where I keep almost all mine) will accept DP cases - I would think most wine storage firms will.
I’ve had a modestly sized space at BY in Fulham for some years, while not that cheap it does allow me to enjoy creating my pile of wine, which wouldn’t be practical in a 2nd floor flat. About 200 bottles here, roughly organised so that the ones I don’t need to touch for a while are at the bottom and the back. It’s more organised than it looks… honest…
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