I am hoping some members that have experience moving wine to the South particularly Florida have some suggestions on how best to enjoy my wine after moving to Southern Florida.
I have wine professionally stored in the NY area and am moving to Miami. I’m considering different options to have access to some of my wine that would be consumed over the next year or so before receiving more wine. My concerns are of course the weather when transporting wine, cost and available professional storage facilities in Southern Florida.
One option is to keep most of the wine in NY while having 10 to 20 cases stored locally. This would require periodic shipments (once or twice a year) of my wine through a professional wine transport company to move the wine to a smaller storage facility in Southern Florida. Another option is to have cases FedEx’d every so often during the “cooler” months. And the other option is to move the whole collection at once and store professionally in Florida or a nearby state that occasionally delivers to the area in refrigerated trucks, if this even exists.
I’m keeping most of my cellar in LA so I don’t have to worry about periods of no electricity after hurricanes. The daily drinkers I plan on buying from Wine Watch or B-21.
I have scheduled shipping of recent purchases to FL and I’ll be packing some select bottles for offlines to carry with me this time and each time that I’m back in town.
The problem with Miami is that by the time temperatures drop to 70, the rest of the northeast is freezing. There may be a window in December where it’s 30s-40s in NYC and 70s in Miami where you can ship it via ground with your furniture.
I’m more inclined on keeping the bulk in NY as well. Would consider moving a larger quantity to Florida if the storage options are of similar quality to those in the NY area.
Given the weather concerns you highlight timing any shipment, particularly for FedEx, is crucial. That’s why I need to plan way in advance to be able to drink my wine in such a warmer region. Thank god for air conditioning!
Check out Vine Vault…they are located in Atlanta and Austin but ship refrigerated from all over. I have them ship my wine from Napa/Sonoma and it goes refrigerated door to door…I first heard of them when my Spottswoode shipment was delivered by them. Really a game changer for me.
It’s only a day’s drive from NY to FL so you can pay someone or just move it yourself. My guess is that real estate in FL will be cheaper than NY and your storage will not only be closer but cheaper. I’d move it.
How many cases do you have? You can do a road trip or pay a shipper. Don’t forget, wine does arrive in Florida somehow and don’t imagine that it’s all in cool storage all the way!
I just did this same thing (moved wine from NJ to FL). I have a separate wine rider at each location through Chubb and there were NO ISSUES with respect to moving the wine. In fact, Chubb told me not to take the separate insurance that wine transport companies were quoting me $1000 for, as my wine was covered in transport.
This is a consideration, but make sure you have a back-up generator devoted just to the wine room. I lost a budding collection of fine Bordeaux in my early 30s when Orlando had three hurricanes pass through in four weeks. We lost power each time, one time for eight days in sweltering heat. I was able to move family, art and other valuables but not wine. Lost a lot of 1980s Bordeaux. While that was a rare occasion, we have had two more recent hurricanes that cause power outages as well, the last one for 3 days. I keep 95% of my stuff in offsite partly, but largely, for this reason.
Good point on the backup generator. Not really that much of an issue where we live. First, we have underground power lines so generally don’t lose power for long - and the longest times generally are in winter not summer. Also, wine cellar is insulated and is in a basement, so wine will not heat up that fast or get that warm - probably never more than 70.
Shipping window is limited but generally fine to ship from late November through mid-March except for weeks where there is a major heat spell, which is generally rare. Average temperature in December is 76/69, January 73/65, February 74/66 and March 75/69. I have had wine shipped for fifteen years during this time frame and had no issues.
I use an off-site storage with a Kohler back-up generator that automatically turns on when there is a power outage. I have looked into obtaining a whole home generator but at this point it is prohibitively expensive particularly with the permitting in the area where I live. In the last 15 years I have been out of power for a significant amount of time (one week) twice due to hurricanes.
There are a number of options for storing wine here some more expensive than others depending on the services that you are looking for. Brickell Xtra Storage is cheaper but does not allow you to physically see your wine. They also charge each time you remove a bottle. I store at Life Storage, which is more expensive but has a dedicated temperature controlled facility with thermostats and many lockers. It is clean and has very good security.
This is a major concern and why I’ll keep most offsite in reputable storage locations that are equipped to deal with power outages.
I don’t know what you’d consider large but it’s dozens+ of cases and some which are now prohibitively priced that I would want to be stored professionally. The problem is even more complicated as there is some stored in Europe which I’m trying to get shipped direct to Southern Florida.
I had already spoken to Brickell Xtra and will stop by to look at the facility. The drawback is that you don’t have direct access to the wine yourself. Thanks for the heads up on Life Storage they have a few locations in the Miami - West Palm area!
I use Robovault for my offsite…its just off I-595, adjacent to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. It is a little pricey but it is top notch with all the back-up elec, etc…