Brentwood Wine Company will appraise your fine wine collection free of charge and arrange for purchase of your properly stored fine wine at appraised prices. A local distributor will buy your wine outright for more than you'd expect to net from an auction, and they'll pay within 30 business days. Here's what you do:

Step 1: Write a list of the wines you are interested in selling. Include all necessary information including producer, varietal, special designation, vintage, bottle size, and number of bottles. Don't bother putting down wines you know have no demand - White Zinfandel, everyday wines, really old Chardonnays, etc.

Honestly indicate each wine's condition. If the label or capsule is smudged or damaged, we want to know about it. Most important is the fill level. Tell us if the fill of the wine is below the neck, and if so, how far down the 'shoulder' it is.
If there is any sign of seepage around the cork, or the cork protrudes more than a millimeter from the top of the bottle, or the wine level is below the top shoulder of the bottle, cross it off your list and look for another home - we can't take it.

Step 2: Make sure you're registered at Brentwood Wine Company.

Step 3: Send us your list, along with your customer id number and any time restrictions you have. For fastest response, download our Excel appraisal form, fill it out and email it to appraisal@brentwoodwine.com. While an Excel attachment to the email works best, Microsoft Works, Word, or WineBase attachments are also okay. Or just include the list as text in your Email. You can also fax the list to us at (503) 638-6737.

How to use the online appraisal form: When you click the online appraisal form link above, the Excel form comes up and asks you to open or save. Click save and rename it by your last name and save to a folder on your C:\ drive or desktop so it is easy to find. Once you complete your wines to be appraised, save it again so it is ready to email to us. Next, open your email program, address your email to appraisal@brentwoodwine.com and click the attachment button that looks like a paper clip in most other email programs. This will open up your files to select from. Double-click the folder where your file is located, and select the Excel file you named for the appraisal. Click 'Insert' or 'Open' and it should attach itself to the body of your email. Then you can add text and send it to us. If you need help, call us at 503-638-9463, and we'll be glad to walk you through the process.

We'll tell you what your wine is worth in today's market. Within a few days, we'll let you know what we believe it is worth to our local distributor/wholesaler network based on information reported in the Wine Market Journal. This is usually about 75% of the auction recent gross (buyer's final price) reported in this periodical. Since auction houses generally pay sellers 66-75% of this gross figure, less shipping and in some cases appraisal, and charge for unsold lots and storage fees, this is on the top end of what you'd expect to net.

We recommend a subscription to the Wine Market Journal to anyone who collects wine regularly. You can subscribe at http://www.winemarketjournal.com. If you go to 'guest registration', they will give you a free evaluation day.

Step 4: Let us know if you want to sell and the location of the wine.

We'll get back to you promptly with the name of one of our distributors who is interested in buying your wine. He will then contact you with a purchase agreement. If needed, he'll send you shipping cartons at his expense for smaller collections or will arrange economical temperature-controlled trucking for larger collections.

Step 5: You ship the wine to the distributor in Portland, Oregon or Napa, California, at your cost. You can also drop it off in either of those cities.

The distributor/wholesaler inspects the wine. If the condition or other important details are inaccurate, he will be in touch with you to reach a mutually agreeable resolution or will return the affected bottle(s). But this doesn't happen too often.

The distributor/wholesaler issues you a check for the agreed-upon value of the wine, within 30 business days of receipt of your wine. This works out to be at or above what you would have received from a big auction house if your wine had sold at the average recent auction price, but you get paid up to 10 weeks sooner! And you take no risk of a bad auction result.

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