Whether you have already placed bids at an iDealwine auction or not, you have probably wondered how we appraise the bottles in the catalogues. What happens during this crucial step? How are the bottles assessed? Here we demystify the process.
In case you didn’t already know, iDealwine has been the top wine auction house in France for both online and in-person auctions for many years now through its subsidiary IWA. It’s also the leading wine auction website across the globe. The iDealwine subsidiary is a licensed operator certified by France’s regulating auction authority and employs an auctioneer who oversees each and every auction. As you can imagine, the company has put in place an extremely organised, rigorous and meticulous appraisal process to achieve such a result. Each bottle which passes through our doors is individually appraised, no matter if it will be a single-bottle lot, a lot of several identical bottles or if it comes in a case, which is what sets iDealwine apart from other ways of reselling wine between private individuals. Each and every bottle is meticulously checked, photographed from every angle and scrupulously described. This is what it takes to win and keep the confidence of wine enthusiasts, some of which are located several thousand miles away. Buyers benefit from a five-year legal guarantee of the authenticity of the wines sold at auction by our intermediary.
Appraisal takes place in several steps going from the first contact with the consignor, through to the electronic gavel falling to delivery of the wine.
First step: First look and estimation by our Consignors department
When you contact us to consign your wine, the first person you’ll speak to will be a member of our Consignors department where Raphaël, Sophie, Alice, Marion, Cristina, Mathilda and Nicolas will guide you through the process. The team will sort through the lists of bottles sent to them looking at the type of wine and the accompanying photos. Wines that are not interesting from an auction point of view and bottles that appear to be in a very poor condition or clearly questionable as well as those that have been stored in unsatisfactory conditions (level of wine in the bottle too low for the vintage, fallen cork, etc.) don’t make the cut. For the bottles that are successful, the consignor is given a first estimation, and this can be modified later during appraisal.
Request an evaluation of your bottles (it’s free by the way)
Second step: Appraisal by iDealwine’s Appraisal team
As previously mentioned, all of the bottles sold on iDealwine are appraised by our specialist team. Each year, about 200,000 bottles pass through their hands. When wine is located in France, our team generally goes to pick them up from the cellars of wine enthusiasts and note the conditions there (taking photos for the cellar to back up their findings). Other bottles are dropped off by consignors at iDealwine’s headquarters on the outskirts of Paris or sent by post with adapted packaging. In these two cases, the consignor fills in a questionnaire about how the wine has been stored and the history of each bottle. No matter how the bottle ends up in our hands, it is appraised in our Lab before being put up for sale.
A pillar of the business, iDealwine’s appraisal team is made up of 12 people, with Antoine Gouriou at its head. Everyone in the team was chosen for their passion, experience and knowledge of the world of wine. They have all spent many hours learning about the finer details of fine wine before passing the famous WSET qualifications.
Appraisal covers five individual steps:
- An initial general inspection of the bottle: This first, quite succinct step aims to pinpoint any problems and damage that could prevent the sales of the bottles (cracks in the glass, the level of the wine too low in the bottle, a fallen cork, etc.) as well as other elements that could cause the appraiser to rule out the bottle. Any bottle that fails to pass any of these steps will not be put up for auction and returned to the consignor.
- Verifying the authenticity of the wine: For the finest bottles, there are numerous things that have to be checked to ensure their authenticity. The knowledge, qualifications and experience of the team and the company are truly an asset! Furthermore, iDealwine has a unique database which is enriched each day when new bottles are appraised. It consists of tens of thousands of photos of bottles from a wide range of vintages that the appraisers can use whenever as well as information about bottling, labels (the type of paper, font, special inscriptions, etc. used), capsules, engravings, corks for each fine wine depending on the vintage. And whenever a doubt arises, which tends to happen most with very old vintages as an estate’s practices weren’t set in stone as they are today, our team rings the property concerned to be able to have their questions answered by those who know better than anyone else.
- Thorough inspection of the state of the wine: Our appraisers carefully inspect each and every bottle, paying close attention to labels, capsules and the level of wine. This inspection gives us clues as about how the wine was stored. An unstable cork means that the cellar was too dry, for example, or the bottle was kept in an upright position. The impermeability of a cork is systematically tested by lightly pressing down on it.
- Meticulous description of the bottle: In order to give as much information as possible to potential bidders, the appraisers note all the minuscule details about the bottle: any scratches, marks and tears are recorded. Wine enthusiasts can then make an informed decision when placing their bids.
- Taking photos from every angle: With the goal of giving as much information as possible about the bottles, each one is photographed from the front, back, and top (to show the state of the capsule which is sometimes helpful).
View our page dedicated to wine investment
