Closing a Holiday Home for the Winter: What to Do With the Wine

A summer house closes in October and opens again in May. For seven months the cellar looks after itself, and that is where good wine is quietly lost: a power cut nobody noticed, a cooling unit that stopped during a February storm, a storeroom that was cool all winter and is not in an early heatwave in May. Before the shutters go down, it is worth an hour deciding what stays, what goes, and who will know if something goes wrong.

Count it before you close

Start with a count. What is in the cellar, the fridges and the bar, and roughly what is it worth? Most of the problems we are asked to solve begin with a house nobody counted at the end of the season. The count also tells you what to reorder before the house opens again.

Decide what stays and what moves

The everyday wines, the bar and the water can stay if the cellar is sound. The bottles that matter are different:

• Move the fine and old wines, anything bought for an occasion, large formats and anything you would be upset to lose. Out of season they are safer in professional storage, where temperature and humidity are controlled and recorded.
• Keep enough everyday stock for the first night of next season: a case of white and rosé, some red, champagne for the arrival, and water.
• Drink or give away open bottles, rosé from this summer that will not improve, and anything in a kitchen fridge that is about to be switched off.

If the cellar stays in use

• Monitor it. A temperature and humidity sensor that sends an alert to a phone costs little. Make sure the alert goes to someone who can act on it: the house manager, the caretaker or the gardien.
• Protect the power. Put the cooling unit on its own circuit, and check what happens after a cut: some units restart by themselves, some do not.
• Keep it dark and still. Shutters closed, lights off, no deliveries stacked against the racks.
• Check the insurance. Many household policies limit wine cover. If the contents are valuable, they should be listed at their value.

Professional storage, out of season

Our climate-controlled storage near Antibes costs €24 per case per year ex VAT and is insured up to €100,000, with a record of every case that goes in and out. Tell us where the house is and when it closes, and we will tell you how the wine can be brought in and when it can go back before the family returns. Wine moved in the boot of a car in August is how good bottles get damaged, so it is worth doing properly.

Plan the reopening at the same time

Closing day is the best moment to plan opening day. Note what ran out, what nobody drank and what the family asked for, and give us the date the house opens. We can plan the return of the stored wine and the restock together, so the cellar is full before anyone arrives.

See climate-controlled wine storage, wine for family offices and private estates, and the house manager’s guide to wine across several homes.