I was wondering if anyone has had experiences with auction items on K&L good or bad. Particularly interested in he accuracy of the provenance.
I’ve bought a few things over the years. Never a problem. Never a flawed wine. Your results may vary.
The accuracy of the provenance is impossible to know. Unless the bottle is flagrantly messed up, you can’t really prove their assertion wrong. I’ve bought a few things, and found the bottles to be as stated, with prompt service, as you’d expect from them.
Only by selling and I’ve been very happy everything.
I’ve bought a couple of lots and have no complaints.
I’ve sold through them including some higher end cult cabernet. It wasn’t a large volume, so it wasn’t anything worth inspecting the cellar for, but they never asked to see the storage conditions or verify receipts. They took my word for it. That said, I buy from them regularly for many years, and they were impeccable about their bottle descriptions (often finding stuff that I didn’t even realize was there in terms of label nicks, etc). I didn’t sell anything truly unique (DRC, low production wines, anything older than 20 years, etc).
Btw I have bought old wine from K&L often from lots they buy from cellars. Very very positive experiences compared to other sources.
Likewise. I have had very good luck with older wines from KL.
I have bought bottles on K&L auctions. No issues. Very satisfied, so far.
Are you eyeballing the BV Napa 1968 Burgundy lit?
but that’s from the collections. The storage from the collections tend to be top notch. Auctions they’ll just put down whatever without verifying.
I’ve bought quite a few auction items and have found their notes on bottle condition to be accurate and their customer service impeccable. When bottles have had problems they’ve handled the situation responsibly. Great company.
Always fantastic customer service for in-store purchases and good experiences on their auctions until a couple of weeks ago. I collected the bottle from the RWC store directly and then popped it a week later. Between the dried out cork and maderized wine, there was no way that the bottle had been properly cellared. As Charlie said upline, they just write down whatever you tell them without any verfication. I sold a few bottles last year and went down to their storage location with my receipts and they couldn’t have cared less.
I’ve bought from K&L auctions and Bonhams and Butterfields wine auctions, and have had very good/excellent wines from both. I usually look for wines that have been stored locally (SF/Bay Area), tho not sure that’s necessary.
I have a recent experience dealing with KL auctions. I sold a fairly large lot of mixed 80’s Bordeaux including a few 82 Latour’s. On inspection they noticed that on one of my 85’ Clerc Milon’s the cork was depressed in the bottle beyond the others and declined to auction it. I didn’t see it because the capsule was still flush at the top but they caught it. When I received it back it surely was depressed about a half an inch into the bottle.
It was no big deal for me and still drank great. I was impressed that they did such a close inspection and even though they don’t ask for providence records on most items they will at least verify the overall condition of the wine well.
…Auctions they’ll just put down whatever without verifying.
I’ve found a few of their “provenances” to be unlikely, e.g., a statement last year that a red Burg from the 1940s was purchased on release by the current owner. When I’ve made inquiries about my suspicions, I’ve sometimes received “clarifications.”
Bought quite a few bottles from K&L, with only two issues they took care of satisfactorily.
- Flawed bottle of 1995 Arrowood Grand Archer - they gave me credit.
- Won an auction for a 6 bottle lot of Burgundy - it was listed on WineSearcher as red, but turned out to be white. They cancelled my bid.
I’d buy from them any time.
I bought some older bottles early on which were exactly as described but upon trying definitely tasted heat damaged. No way they could have known (bottles looked fine) but it sort of soured me on their auctions.
Their auctions seem much more competitive than WineBid. I rarely get out bid on WineBid, while I rarely win at K&L. Upon reflection, I consider this an added attraction of K&L auctions.
I’ve bought two lots recently that had Wine Bid stickers on them as well as the KL sticker. Both that said they were professionally stored and hand delivered to KL. I wish it would have stated they were previously acquired from Wine Bid by the current owner, as that would have been good information to provide.