Caspar Bowes, Independent Cellar Adviser

What should I do with the wine I already own?

If you've been buying fine wine for some years, your cellar can become a little difficult to navigate. There may be wines you bought with every intention of drinking but never did, bottles you've forgotten about, cases that have quietly matured, and others that you simply aren't sure what to do with any more.

Caspar Bowes offers a genuinely personal cellar advice service, helping you make sense of the wine you already own.

After decades spent buying, selling, tasting and drinking fine wine, and working closely with private collectors, Caspar will review your collection and give you a practical, independent view of what he would keep, what he would drink, what he would sell and what, if anything, he would consider buying next.

Caspar is not there simply to put a value on your collection. There are plenty of places you can go to find out what your wine is worth. He is there to help you make better decisions about your wines.

Not a valuation. Not a sales pitch. Simply a second pair of eyes on your cellar.

How it works

The review begins with an inventory of your cellar, whether that's a spreadsheet, a storage-company list or simply whatever records you currently have.

Caspar will review the wines and their provenance, their drinking windows and their relevance to your collection. He will consider:

What is drinking now
What should be left to mature
What is approaching its ideal drinking window
What is unlikely to improve with further ageing
What is worth keeping
What you might sensibly sell
Where you have duplication or gaps

What should I drink, what should I keep and what should I sell?

Sometimes the most sensible thing to do with a wine is to keep it for another ten years. Sometimes it is to open it next weekend. And sometimes, having held it for years, it is simply time to let it go.

Caspar will give you his considered view of what he would drink, what he would keep and what he would consider selling.

What should I buy (if anything)?

A cellar review isn't about finding excuses to buy more wine. It is about buying better and more purposefully, if at all!

Once Caspar understands what you already own, he can identify if there are any gaps and opportunities — whether that means finding mature wines to drink now, filling a particular vintage gap, exploring a new region or simply avoiding buying another twelve bottles of something you already own and like. If required, Caspar can also use his extensive wine-trade contacts to help source wines.

What happens next if I decide to sell?

If the review identifies wines you'd like to sell, Bowes Wine can help with that too.

We have many years of experience selling fine wine on behalf of private clients and can advise on the most appropriate route for your wines, whether that means offering them through our own network or finding the right market for them.

The advisory fee can be credited against our selling commission when wines are subsequently sold through Bowes Wine.*

There is no obligation to sell through us. The advice comes first.

(*This credit can only be used in the six month period immediately following the issuing of the Cellar Advice report.)

Is this service for you?

This service is particularly suited to collectors who:

Have accumulated a collection of wine and aren't quite sure what they have any more.
Want to drink more of their wine but need help deciding what is ready.
Are considering downsizing or want to rationalise a collection.
Have inherited a cellar and need an experienced pair of eyes to help understand it.
Are thinking about selling some wines but don't know where to start.
Want to buy more intelligently rather than simply buy more.

The Cellar Review

A comprehensive review of your wine collection

Cellar Reviews start from £250.

The final fee depends on the size and complexity of the collection and the amount of work involved.

The review can be tailored to the size and complexity of your collection, from a few hundred bottles to a substantial private cellar. We will of course agree the scope and fee with you before starting.

Independent advice for private wine collectors

Experienced, practical advice from someone who has spent a lifetime working with fine wine: he has bought it, sold it, tasted it, drunk it and, importantly, worked with the people who collect it.

Interested? Please get in touch with Caspar to discuss your wine collection and/or ask any questions.

e: caspar@boweswine.co.uk
m: 07711 934378