Hello again Berserkers!
I have been away from this excellent forum for a few years. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of medical issues and family priorities, I have sadly begun to explore selling my beloved wine collection. However, I understand that there are not many options for selling wine in Canada. I am hoping that I could lean on the Berserkers here for your experiences and wisdom in this area. Has anyone sold wine in Canada before, and what was your experience?
Here are some options that I was considering for liquidating my collection:
-Canadian auction house. Apparently the only auction option in Canada is Iron Gate Wine Auctions, who I understand just recently in 2021 began holding online auctions for Canada. Has anyone sold through them and did you get a decent price? I’d just be concerned if there was enough volume of buyers, before I shipped my collection to them.
-American retailers or auction houses. I was thinking places such as Winebid, Benchmark, etc. This would require shipping the wine from Canada to the US. However, only quote I received for shipping wine from British Columbia to California was in the range of $3,000-$5,000, which would really cut into profits.
-Selling to Canadians piecemeal online. Either through local Craigslist ads, Wineberserkers, etc. I’m assuming this would take the most effort and time. Has anyone parted out an entire collection this way, bottle by bottle? Would I have the problem of having all of the Chave, Trotanoy, Ducru Beaucaillou, Haut Brion, d’Yquem, etc. cherry-picked first and then have trouble selling the less desirable bottles?
If it matters for answering my question, CellarTracker tells me that I have 422 bottles, made up of 239 from France (148 Bordeaux mostly classified growths, 43 Burgundy, 29 Rhone), 115 USA (100 California, 12 Oregon, 3 Washington), along with a smattering of Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, and Germany. A lot of bottles fall in the 2000-2012 vintages. I really enjoyed the 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux vintages, for example.
Thank you so much for any advice or tips that you can provide, it is really appreciated.