OK to store long-term in OWC?

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I would definitely check the bottles, even if you are buying from a reputable source. We just took delivery of some more 2006 Comte de Champagne from a great retailer and one of the fancy wooden 6 pack cases had only 5 bottles. No one knows how it happened, and of course it was remedied, but shows it can happen even at excellent stores.

[Julian_Marshall]

No problem for storing in OWCs, but another reason to check them is the very unlikely possibility of cardboard being used instead of wood for the stacking things inside the cases. I’ve had problems with this in the past.

[Jay_Opperman]

From experience I would open and check every single OWC I buy.
I had received an OWC 3 pack 2004 Romanee Conti years ago from a new source.My gut told me to cut the band and open the box to check and to my astonishment the case contained 3 bottles of red Sancerre! I nearly fell over. Immediately I called the retailer and sent him pictures. Eventually made good on replacing it but I can only imagine what other collectors are sitting with a three pack Unknowingly that it is not what they think it is.
In the collectible market at this level it is totally acceptable to cut the band open the box and then resecure the band. Clearly better safe than sorry.

[Tariq_K]

That is one sad looking locker, mostly empty, couple of cases strewn randomly. Get to work!

Um, I think you’re looking at the rest of the warehouse…

This is the actual locker. Got to about 300 bottles in a year. Frighteningly easy.

[R0_M_0_R_R_1_0_N]

If you are handy with a flat head screwdriver you can pry the top off to check the contents and then tap it back into place. You can usually get it all off in one piece and then tap the staples back into their original holes.

+1. Have read stories of 11 bottles, bad fills, even a lesser wine being in the box. Check, then store as long as you want.

That’s what I am saying

+1

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[AndrewH]

^ +1 to the prybar approach, and +1 to verifying contents.

If it’s something you plan to sell, even as OWC to a collector, that collector would be insane not to verify.

I can’t see why a collector would pay more for the privilege of cutting a 10c shipping band that any fraudster could apply around a box filled with lesser bottles. Same for the 10c band with $5 of bespoke printing that one could apply for DRC.

[Mike_S]

I have stored in OWC for fifty years, no problems… Please check each box as soon after you receive it. Over the years I have had an odd bottle put in with eleven, a different wine, a leaker, missing a bottle, bottles with out labels, etc.

[NED_VALOIS]

Yes, "Trust, but verify " !

[Paul_McCourt]

Yup. Always crack them open and peek in. After that, store away in them.

[JonathanG]

What about the “wrapped in paper” question? My Sassicaia was wrapped in some pretty Sassicaia branded paper. Leave on or take off?

[NED_VALOIS]

I remove any tissue, as it can become saturated & stuck to labels !
This may reduce some resell value to some , but not me .

[JonathanG]

Good point.

[GregT]

I would wrap them in tin foil. Or aluminum foil.

The tissue may invite silverfish.

And the OWC may be a vector for bacteria, mold, and all kinds of other things.

I would take the wine out of the boxes and burn the boxes as soon as they arrived. Get a good disinfectant, wipe down the bottles, burn all the packaging, store in a sterile environment for fifty years. That’s how wine was meant to be kept. Maybe even remove the labels as you don’t know what they’d be hiding.

[Cris_Whetstone]

I would wrap them in tin foil. Or aluminum foil.

The tissue may invite silverfish.

And the OWC may be a vector for bacteria, mold, and all kinds of other things.

I would take the wine out of the boxes and burn the boxes as soon as they arrived. Get a good disinfectant, wipe down the bottles, burn all the packaging, store in a sterile environment for fifty years. That’s how wine was meant to be kept. Maybe even remove the labels as you don’t know what they’d be hiding.

Definitely wrap the head…errrr…above the neck in tin foil. Definitely.

[Ray.Tuppa_sch]

As others have posted, open and check the contents of the owc’s.
Before Barry Silver went hardcore, he sent me several cases with much lesser wines in the bottom layer of “sealed” owc’s.

[Richard_Albert]

I was about to deliver a case of Lynch Bages and opened the case to check contents. The lower six bottles were Petrus, someone forgot to update the contents list on the 3x5!!!

Nobody cares if the staples or brads go back in the original holes. Showing it was opened and contents checked reveals a responsible and aware owner. No experienced person is going is going to sell or buy an unopened case.

[lleichtman]

Whenever I get a box, which isn’t that often, I keep the wine in it until it’s about half gone. Many of our wine boxes have become bird houses.

[Robert_Sand]

Absolutely ok for the wine. I have most of my Bordeaux in OWC.
Only if the cellar is quite humid the labels can suffer a bit when down on the floor, less when further up.