Commercial wine storage

[jordyn]

I've been thinking lately about starting a small collection of wine. Unfortunately, because I have a typcial tiny New York apartment there is nowhere for me to store any reasonable amount of wine.

I've read some places about commercial wine storage, where you can pay someone to cellar your wine for you. Does anyone do this? If so, please share your experiences. Can anyone make a recommendation for such a service in the New York City area?

[Steve Plotnicki]

There are a number of places in the city that do this. It normally runs about $1.50 a case a month. Where do you live? The wine shop in Chelsea Market offers this servce. Then there is New York Wine Warehouse in Long Island City, and New York Fine Wines (Zachy's) in Westcheter.

[jordyn]

Thanks, Steve. I live on the Upper West Side, so the wine shop in Chelsea Market seems like the best bet of those that you mentioned, geography-wise.

Do you know anything about the reliability and quality of these services?

[Robert Schonfeld]

I use Morgan Manhattan in Queens for my few things. We recently had a number of bottles from the first case deposited there 25 years ago. They were in perfect condition.

[Steve Plotnicki]

I don't use their services but I have friends who do and who seem very happy. I hear the storage facility and things like temperature and humidity control are great there. I believe that they rent lockers, and you can go down there any day they are open and play with your wine. I'm not sure if they offer services that are more extensive than receiving wines. I use NY Wine Warehouse and they are the type of facility that does everything for you including delivering indivdual bottles of wine to your house for dinner.

[Robert Schonfeld]

Morgan Manhattan delivers. It's only money...

[Rail Paul]

There's a genuine cave available for storage of wine. Located in Kingston NY, and the ad states it is a bonded NY State facility.

Wine Storage - click me

The ad says they deliver twice weekly to Manhattan, and will pick up your shipments at the airports. I have no personal experience with them.

[LaNiña]

That's beautiful information, about the Chelsea wine storage thing. I wonder if they have a minimum number of bottles you can store?

[MartyL]

Hi all.

I recently looked into commercial wine storage options in and around the city. I didn't call NY Wines, so I don't know their terms. The following is some information regarding other options.

Acker Merrall: A "half-locker" with space for 25 cases costs between $300 and $400 per year. Offers free pickup and delivery in Manhattan, with 72 hours notice. That last point is a nice service. If you live on the west side, this might be a good option, as their shop is on West 72nd street. The cellar is offsite in either NJ or Queens. I understand they are building a new facility that should be able to accomodate customers with smaller collections.

Chelsea Wine Vault: I like that they are in Manhattan, offering me convenient access to the wine. They charge $2 per case per month for open storage, but they currently have a waiting list and aren't taking new customers.

Morrell: Also fully booked and not taking new customers.

Morgan & Brothers Manhattan: Warehouse in LI City, offers storage for 1-14 cases for $20 per month, with declining per case charges for additional cases (the range is $1.10 to $1.40). Delivery charges are somewhat steep here though.

I didn't look at Zachy's very closely as it looked pricey.

Also, I have heard second-hand that Sokolin, a Long Island Wine Merchant, is just starting to offer this service.

You should be aware that in addition to the basic storage charge, there are lots of other add-ons for which these places charge you. These include, among other things, inventory for cases that come in and go out, warehouse labor by the half-hour, delivery and pick-up charges, packing materials and insurance (usually 1 or 2% of the value of your wine).

Hope this helps.