We speak first
Thirty minutes on the phone. Size, locations, and who needs to accept the number — an underwriter, an executor, the IRS, or a court. That answer decides the basis of value, so it comes before anything else.
Manhattan · Brooklyn · Westchester · Greenwich · The Hamptons
Wine appraisalin New York.
I appraise private wine collections across the New York area and deliver a signed, USPAP-compliant written valuation your insurer, your executor, the IRS, or a court can rely on. I come to the wine — apartment, house, or storage facility — count and condition it myself, research the market, and write the report. Two to three weeks, a flat fee agreed in advance, and no interest whatsoever in what you do with the collection afterwards.
From $1,400
USPAP-compliant, signed
Homes and storage facilities
Where I work
No travel charge inside this radius. Beyond it, travel is quoted at cost in the engagement letter — never buried in the fee.
I come tothe wine.
Manhattan
Apartment cellars, custom rooms, and the closet under the stairs that turned into six hundred bottles. Most Manhattan visits take a single morning.
Brooklyn
Brownstone cellars and converted basements, where the interesting question is usually humidity and the boiler two rooms away.
Westchester
House cellars at scale, often with a second cache in a garage or wine room nobody has counted in years.
Greenwich
A short drive and a frequent one. Greenwich collections tend to be the best documented I see, and the most under-scheduled.
The Hamptons
Seasonal houses, which means summer wine and winter risk. I schedule these around the season rather than against it.
The engagement
How a New Yorkappraisal proceeds.
One appraiser, start to finish. I do the inspection, the research, and the writing, and my name is the one on the certification page.
Engagement in writing
A flat fee, the intended use, the intended users, and the effective date. Agreed before I arrive.
The visit
I come to the wine. Bin by bin: producer, vintage, format, quantity, fill level, capsule, label, closure. I photograph anything that bears on condition. A few hundred bottles is a morning; a serious cellar across two addresses is a day or two.
Off-site storage
A great deal of New York's best wine lives in a temperature-controlled facility rather than a home. I make the appointment with the facility myself, bring my own light and gloves, and work the lockers the same way I work a cellar.
Research and writing
Auction records, current retail, and market direction for every significant lot. Then I write the report — I do not subcontract the writing.
Delivery
A signed, USPAP-compliant valuation, generally two to three weeks after the inspection. PDF, and bound if you want one for the file.
Credentials
Who signsthe report.
Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers
I trained as a sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers. Reading a cellar — what it is, what shape it is in, what it is actually worth — is the trade, not a sideline to it.
USPAP-compliant reports
Every valuation is written to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice: stated intended use and users, a defined basis of value, an effective date, the market evidence, and a signed certification.
Flat or hourly, never a percentage
USPAP bars an appraiser from charging a fee that moves with the value reported. Mine is quoted before I start and does not change when the number does.
No stake in the outcome
Prestige Vin buys nothing, sells nothing, holds no inventory, and takes no consignment or referral fee. If selling is the right answer I will name the houses I would approach and what each would cost you — and I earn nothing from any of it.
New York questions
Before I cometo the cellar.
How much does a wine appraisal cost in New York?
A written, USPAP-compliant valuation starts from $1,400. New York personal-property appraisers commonly bill by the hour at rates that put a small collection in the same range; I prefer a flat fee agreed in advance so the number in your engagement letter is the number on the invoice. USPAP prohibits charging a percentage of the value reported, so my fee never moves with the appraisal.
How do I appraise a wine collection in New York?
Start by deciding who has to accept the figure — an insurer, an executor, the IRS, or a court — because that sets the basis of value. Then engage an appraiser who will inspect the wine in person, write to USPAP, and has no financial interest in the collection. Inventory lists and phone photographs can tell you whether a formal appraisal is worth commissioning, but they cannot substitute for one.
Do you visit off-site storage facilities?
Regularly. A large share of the serious wine in New York sits in a temperature-controlled facility rather than in the owner's home, and an appraisal that skips it is not an appraisal of the collection. I arrange the appointment with the facility, work the lockers case by case, and photograph condition. I do not name client storage locations publicly.
Do you travel to Greenwich, Westchester, and the Hamptons?
Yes — all three are routine, and no travel charge applies within that radius. Further afield is quoted at cost in the engagement letter before anything is booked. Hamptons visits are usually easiest to schedule outside the summer weeks, though I will work around a filing deadline whenever one exists.
Can you appraise a collection split across several addresses?
Yes, and it is common in New York — an apartment, a country house, and a storage locker is close to the standard arrangement. One engagement, one inventory, one report, with each lot recorded against the location it sits in. That location record is worth having on its own the next time an insurer or an executor asks where the wine actually is.
Will my insurer accept the report?
In the ordinary case, yes: carriers scheduling fine wine want a written valuation from a qualified appraiser, prepared to USPAP, with a recent effective date. Requirements do differ between carriers, so tell me who yours is on the first call and I will write to what they ask for. Most want a valuation inside three years; some want it inside one.
How long does the whole thing take?
Roughly two to three weeks from inspection to signed report for most collections — the research on significant lots is the slow part, not the counting. If you are working to a court date or a filing deadline, say so at the start and I will sequence the work around it.
Do you buy wine, or sell it for clients?
Never. Clients pay Prestige Vin directly and nobody else pays us anything. If the collection should be sold, that goes in the report as a recommendation with the houses I would approach and their costs — I take no share of it. Where an estate needs the whole question resolved rather than only valued, that is Estate Triage, from $2,100.
A limited number of appraisals are taken each month
Tell me wherethe wine is.
Roughly how many bottles, which addresses, and who needs to accept the number. Thirty minutes on the phone is usually enough to tell you whether a formal appraisal is worth commissioning at all.