Personal Wine Services

Fine Wine Appraisals, Valuation Services and Market Research

What is your wine worth? Recently, a twelve-bottle lot of 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Burgundy sold at auction for $289,750.00 USD.

As a professional appraiser, I can provide security and financial benefit by valuating your fine wine collectables.

I have passed the 2010/2011 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice exam, and provide appraisal, valuation and market research services for high net worth individuals, estates, insurance agencies, attorneys, government agencies, restaurants and other members of the wine trade.

Clients hire me to:

• Protect their assets — before an accident occurs. In the event of damage or loss, your appraiser can act as an unbiased, professional witness to the item’s condition before the damage/loss occurred.
• Give a professional opinion of value on an upcoming auction lot or retail offering.
• Review and assess an individual’s or restaurant’s wine collection.
• Improve a retailer/restaurant’s bottom line by helping set an appropriate price for classed-growth Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and other investment grade wines.
• Review other opinions of value, and provide case consulting for probate, dissolution of assets and other legal matters.
• Provide timely, accurate and effective price data and market research. My custom-built appraisal search engine has a corpus of over 1.2 Million documents.

Practice areas include:

• Estate and Probate
• Divorce
• Distribution of Assets
• Insurance (Damage/Loss/General)
• Charitable Contributions
• Appraisal Reviews
• Case Consulting and Research
• Expert Witness Services

I focus on fine wine and spirits sales in the following cities:

• New York (core city)
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• London
• Paris
• Amsterdam
• Geneva
• Hong Kong

If you do not live in one of the above cities, I might still be able to assist you! Please contact me.

Download a sample tearsheet report of the Mouton Rothschild 1978 Bordeaux, 750mL (pdf, 57KB, 3 pages).

Wine Buying and Collections Management

Too busy to shop or manage your cellar? New to wines and looking for a trusted expert to help guide your purchases?

I provide white-glove, bespoke wine buying and collections management services to suit your needs.

Clients hire me to:

• Develop fine wine acquisition and/or disposition strategies.
• Improve home sale results by creating move-in ready wine cellars.
• Attend auctions, purchase wines on their behalf (which also protects one’s anonymity).
• Manage their cellar, maintain inventory records, rotate stock, appraise and/or valuate the collection.
• Evaluate cellar designs (making sure it fits their acquisition strategy).
• Alert them to wines which should be drunk (i.e. wines which are approaching or past their peak).
• Create cellar log books with reviews, food matches, drink when dates and other tasting notes.

Education and Events Management

Wine is social. The more you learn, the more you want to experience and share.

When I worked with The New York Wine & Grape Foundation to develop their first ever Alberta charity gala and trade show tours, we knew that education, passion and enthusiasm would be key to the show’s success.

“A Night out in New York” became the most successful wine gala in Alberta: sold-out crowds were charmed not only by the wines and NY-inspired cuisine, but by our creativity and theatrical flourishes: a projection of the NY skyline, a jazz pianist and espresso bar, a crystal centerpiece with icewine gelato.

Patrons knew it was unique, it was fabulous, it was New York.

Clients hire me to:

• Learn about wine.
• Improve sales results by training wait staff and off-premise associates.
• Share my collecting insights at conferences and industry events.
• Establish successful charity events, trade shows and unique patron experiences.
• Work with their chef to create compelling food/wine matches for dinner parties, weddings, and restaurant menus.
• Host fine wine and spirit tastings.
• Create tasting booklets and other event collaterals.