Ex-château auctions on iDealwine

Meo-Camuzet bottles sold in an ex-domaine auction on iDealwine

On iDealwine, France’s leading wine auction house, the hammer falls on auction lots every week. Some are much rarer than others, ex-château auctions, for example. Discover what they mean for you, as a wine enthusiasts or producer.

What is an ex-domaine or ex-château auction?

Alongside the classic auctions on the iDealwine website, filled with lots predominately coming from the collections of private individuals and sometimes professional consignors, such as restaurants, iDealwine also organises auctions in which the bottles come straight from the producer. In this case, the wine up for sale has never left the property’s cellars. These auctions contain bottles from estates that are highly sought after by wine enthusiasts.

What’s more, some of these ex-château sales have a charitable side to them with the properties selling their wines for a specific cause. iDealwine supports charitable causes and fund-raising activities close to its heart, including those within the healthcare sector and those that support winemakers affected by adverse weather.

What are the advantages of an ex-château auction?

For wine enthusiasts

For buyers, the main advantage of these types of auctions is that they know the wines only left the sanctity of the property’s cellar to be transported (by a professional courier) to iDealwine’s Appraisal Lab. The bottles are often rare, containing mature vintages or rare wines or large formats, which the producer has decided to part with especially for the occasion. Sometimes, there are even exclusive bottles such as numbered micro-productions, labels signed by the producer, etc.). Certain lots may also be accompanied by an exclusive experience such as a visit to the estate or dinner with the winemaker. So perfectly unique lots.

For producers

The properties benefit from the attractiveness of their wine on the secondary market as a provenance straight from the property generally sees the wine going for above their estimate thanks to their perfect cellaring. An ex-domaine sale also gauges the values of a rare wine, a precious tool for the estate when thinking able selling future vintages or, in certain cases, maturer bottles, still slumbering in their cellars.

These auctions also shine the spotlight on the property with the sale sitting prominently on the website, large-scale communication through the iDealwine blog, social media and the press (all adapted to the owner’s wishes, of course).

Finally, these ex-château auctions give equal access to wine lovers all over the word to try to buy rare wines which interests them. The producer also benefits from any added-value enjoyed by their bottles, compensating them for the years of hard work and promoting their property to as many people as possible.