Does Storing OWC Make (Financial) Sense?

Background
I store with offsite and just got my 2016 Bordeaux futures in, and I am assessing my storage costs, etc. What I learned, is they treat every OWC as a case or half case… so they charge a lot more to store OWC than cardboard. A three 750ml is a 0.5 case charge. a single 1.5L OWC is a 0.5 case charge and a three 1.5L OWC is a 1.0 case charge. A single 1.5L riesling is a 0.5 case charge. Normally a case would be twelve 750s or six 1.5L.

Said another way, if the annual cost to store is ~$25/case, instead of the $2.xx per bottle you would expect… the price shoots up egregiously.

  • Riesling mags are $25/case * .5 case = $12.50 for a single bottle, per year. I paid $50 for one of those mags! It will be negative value soon enough!
  • An OWC with three 750mls charged as a half case is ~$4.25 a bottle, 2x the charge I would expect.
  • an OWC with three 1.5ls in an OWC charged as a full case, so would be ~$8.50/bottle, 2x the charge I would expect

Assuming the facility will not work with me, then I either (i) accept it, (ii) move them out of OWC, or (iii) switch offsite [there are options].


Question at hand: Are OWC worth storing? What value do they have? Why do they exist?
Is there any value to keeping these OWCs? Future sale? Ceremony? I plan to store in offsite for at least 10YR. About 50% of them has no plan (could sell, trade or drink). The other 50% will be held longer (birth year sautern for my daughter’s wedding toast). I think I would like the boxes of the sauternes, because maybe there would be some decoration value there in the future.

The cost to move into cardboard will cost a few $/bottle, but over time, this will pay for itself (breakeven after ~1YR?). (Offsite charges $9 per cardboard box and $30/hour labor, and it wouldn’t shock me if they then charged me another $2.50 a bottle to reprocess the inventory they already have in the system).

The two rieslings will be sold. No reason to pay $12.50 to offsite to store them as 3L bottles.

No.

But storing the wine itself makes little financial sense. pileon

Hmm. the offsites in the seattle area are pay for a fix space… u can store whatever u want in it… i…e u rent a ‘200 btl capacity’, u still pay it even if u leave it empty
pay by case seems pricey…

It’s a weird pricing structure, IMO. But they can price how they see fit, and you can either adapt to it or move to a different facility. It sounds as if you are in a managed facility as opposed to self storage.

Seems with structure above you should just build an addition to your home and amortize the cost vs. 5 years of storage.

You can always keep the OWCs in a basement or attic if you think you might want to sell someday. They don’t need temp control, and the bottles can go right back in.

Btw, original packaging only makes a difference in resale price at a pretty high level. For most wines, it’s cool but immaterial.

Question> s > at hand: Are OWC worth storing? What value do they have? Why do they exist?

That’s several questions.

Worth storing? Only if you plan to sell and someone will pay extra for it.

What value? See above. Or you can use them to store flower pots and things. They’re not much use otherwise as they’re too flimsy to actually hold heavy items. Some people save them and use them for decorations, which is somewhat kitchy.

Why do they exist?

a) So people can agonize over them.

b) They’re a bit sturdier than cardboard.

c) Mostly wineries use them to give their wine the impression of being extra high-end. So the winery eats the two or three bucks for the box because they’re marking up the wine an extra $25 or so.

Thanks! How high a level?

Thanks GregT! What I expected, but wanted to ask before tossing them out… seems like a way for everyone to just make more money except the consumer!

Yes

Have to buy a home first

As somebody once said, if you have to ask, you cannot afford it.

No house = fatal flaw in my plan.

Not sure how many cases you store, but I’d look for a self storage facility and keep what you’d like vs what your storage facility dictates for size/package.

As far as OWC, useless outside of DRC, 6ltr of Yquem, or Lafite or some such you plan on selling later.

6LTR OWC! This is helpful, thanks!

Seriously, you need to start buying 11 bottles.

Small price to pay for our ‘hobby’.
Besides, they look nice, and won’t fall apart when storing them in a damp cellar. Keep 'em and pay the extra cost.

Like Kris said - mostly DRC and first growth level, or very rare/older bottlings.

I would look into self storage. That seems quite high cost per bottle/magnum. I pay about $0.85 average per bottle per year and that’s in the SF Bay Area… But then, it’s not super convenient.

I don’t if this has been said explicitly but you are paying a premium for your managed storage facility. So I’m not sure your question is important without considering that you have other options for storage out there.

Others are correct about the wood only being important for high end auction wines. It stacks nicer than cardboard for the most part but it’s also more of a bear to move around.

I find the OWC’s to be a pain in the ass. Yes they look nice and if you plan on flipping the wine it makes sense to hold onto the box to help sell the wine. Otherwise to me they serve no purpose. The few that I have will end up as firewood at some point.

I think it’s crazy that they charge a different amount for OWC vs. cardboard. I store my wine in a managed facility and the pricing is identical regardless of the packing materials.

The benefit is marginal but I feel there is some value to keeping the OWCs even if you don’t plan on selling the wine. You never know if you palate will change and the wine will be easier to sell if it’s in its OWC and has clearly never been touched. While this may be more important for high end auction wines, I imagine it’s still true even for things like non-first growth classified left bank Bordeaux or high end but non DRC Burgundy. If you ever have an issue with the wine and need to return it to the retailer, perhaps it helps to still have the OWC you received the wine in. Finally, perhaps you get some enjoyment out of opening the wood case when you have your first bottle.