As outlined in my prior post on Top 10 wine collecting mistakes, the majority of common mistakes are associated with buying wine. Vinfolio buys large quantities of fine wine, both from commercial suppliers and from private individuals, and all of it is inspected and either accepted or rejected upon arrival according to our Inspection Guidelines.
Individual wine collectors may apply these same guidelines in several ways:
- For auction house purchases, evaluate whether to bid based on the condition information disclosed compared to our acceptance criteria.
- For any purchase, examine bottles upon arrival for signs of concern and raise issues immediately with the retailer or auction house for resolution.
As pointed out in the guidelines, our decision to reject a wine simply means there is an increased risk of it being inferior and is not a definitive judgment of quality. However, it’s our best assessment without opening the bottle and tasting it. You may decide some reasons we reject wine don’t bother you as they may be more cosmetic (e.g., torn labels) but such reasons negatively impact value should you ever decide to sell the wine.
