What Is Bonded Wine?

In this article, we look to shed some light on bonded wine, exactly what this means, and the benefits of investing.

Wine cellarage or storage can sometimes be referred to as bonded wine or “in bond” and this means that that your wine is stored in a HM Customs & Excise approved bonded wine warehouse.

The benefit of this is that you are not liable to pay any duty or VAT whilst your items are in controlled wine storage facilities, such as those available here at Octavian. As soon as it is removed and delivered to the home or premises in question, then the VAT will be due and payable on the original purchase value.

You may be sat there wondering exactly what the advantages of bonded wine are, and why you wouldn’t just want to keep your fine wines in your own home. Reputable wine storage companies are experts in storing your wine in perfect conditions so you can rest assured that you will receive it is as good, or better, condition that you bought it in.

There can be some issues when keeping wine in bond, though this is rare, and it is usually due to the aforementioned issue of the wine to arriving to Octavian in mint condition. In this case, the in-bond wines can suffer something called “ullage”. This is a lowering of the level within the bottle and can sometimes concern customers who aren’t quite aware of what happens to wines when places in optimal conditions.

Other issues that can occur are seepage or label damage, so we would recommend that you request a photo of your purchase before agreeing to buy it. This is something we are only too happy to assist with here at Octavian as the name of the game is obviously to ensure your wine is absolutely perfect when such a time arrives that you wish to take it from our cellars and use it in your home or restaurant.

A final problem we encounter with less reliable wine cellarage firms is that many sell damaged or sub-standard cases of wine for the price of premium ones. This can often lead to the issues we have already discussed and, due to the fact that these firms are usually cowboys, it is too late to request a refund and the customer ultimately ends up with an awful product.

This is something we care about deeply here at Octavian and we endeavour to ensure this never happens to our customers.

As you will see, bonded wine is an area that has been developed over the generations; we are proud to be the UK’s finest. Bonded wine is just one area of excellence we are proud of here at Octavian and as promised, we will be bringing you lots more information on just what we do over the coming weeks and months.

If in the meantime, head to the main area of our site where you can learn more about why we have over 10,000 private collectors, investors and wine merchants who have worked with us for years. Our cellars just below the Wiltshire Hills are the pinnacle of wine cellarage technology. We also employ only the most talented professionals, in order to ensure that your wine delivers on investment.

We look forward to hearing from you and be sure to come back to the Octavian site soon for more great guides just like this one.