Custody, step by step
How it works
You choose a bottle, the title comes to your name, and the wine stays in a bonded chamber under that name until you ask for it. That is the whole of it. Here is each step, and what you can check at every one.
Open an account
An email address and a password. That is all it takes to read the register, place a bid or take a lot. If you already keep a wallet you can link it later and hold the title there yourself; if you would rather not, nothing about the way your wine is kept changes.
Choose a lot
Every listing is one specific bottle already lying in the chamber, not a promise to source one. The lot page carries its number, its house, its vintage and its condition, and tells you what that lot opens — a tasting, a visit to the cellar it came from, a dossier — before you commit to anything.
The title passes to your name
When the sale closes the register is amended: the lot stops being ours to sell and becomes yours to call for. Settlement runs on Polygon, which is what lets a title change hands without the bottle moving. What you pay is for the wine; any fee or duty is itemised before you confirm.
The bottle stays in the chamber
Under your name, lying down, in the dark, between 12 and 14 °C at stable humidity, insured at replacement value. Your lot's record shows the reading taken from the sensor, the humidity and the date the bottle entered the cellar, and you can read it whenever you like. We do not quote what it might be worth, because we do not know.
Call for it, or pass it on
Redeem the title whenever you want the wine and the bottle travels to you in climate-controlled transit; the title is then marked as redeemed, with its date, and a lot can only ever be claimed once. Or list it instead, and the bottle changes owner without leaving the chamber. There is no minimum holding period either way.
What you can actually check
A lot number that lasts
Each bottle is entered under its own number at intake and keeps it for life. Everything we record about it — condition, movements, holders — hangs off that number.
Readings, not reassurances
The chamber is instrumented. The temperature and humidity shown against your lot are the sensor's, and they appear on the lot page rather than being described in a brochure.
Bonded and insured
Storage is bonded, and every lot is insured at replacement value for as long as it stays in custody — and in transit when you call it in.
Provenance you can follow
Bottles come from the house or from a bonded warehouse, never from the open market. Fill level, label, capsule and paperwork are checked at intake, and every change of hands afterwards is on the record.
Redeemable at any time
No lock-up, no minimum term, no window to wait for. A lot taken this morning can be called for this afternoon.
What the lot opens
Some lots carry an invitation with them: a tasting, a visit to the cellar the wine came from, a filmed session or a technical dossier. Where there are seats, the number still free is shown before you book.
Frequently asked questions
One specific bottle, identified by its lot number and already lying in a chamber under custody, and the title to it: a transferable record of ownership, held on-chain so that the lot can change hands without the bottle having to move. The wine is what you own; the title is the paperwork.
No. You sign in with an email address and a password, and you can take, hold and redeem a lot without touching a wallet at any point. Linking one is optional, for people who would rather custody the title themselves. Settlement runs on Polygon either way — that is plumbing, not something you have to operate.
Yes, from the lot page, at any hour. It shows the lot number, the temperature and humidity read in the chamber and the date the bottle entered custody. If you want the custody and insurance documentation before you buy, ask us and we will send it.
Redeem the title. The bottle is taken out of custody and shipped in climate-controlled transit, and any duties or taxes due on release are shown before you confirm. The title is not destroyed: it stays as the record of the lot, permanently marked as redeemed and dated, and it stops being offered for sale here. So you can always tell a title whose bottle is still in custody from one whose bottle has already left.
The price on the lot page is the price of the wine. A marketplace fee applies when a lot changes hands, and the network fee for settling on Polygon is small. Storage, insurance and any duties due when you call the bottle in are set out in the terms and shown before you confirm: we would rather you read a figure than be surprised by one.
We do not know, and we would be doing you a disservice by pretending otherwise. We do not quote, forecast or guarantee valuations, and you will not find an estimated valuation anywhere on this site. What we show is what a lot has sold for and what it costs today. What it fetches tomorrow is between a buyer and a seller.
Still have questions?
Our collector support team answers within one business day, in English or Spanish.
Ready to start your cellar?
Begin with a single lot. It rests in the chamber under your name, on the register, until the evening you decide to open it.