Wine Auctioneer

Wine Auctioneer runs regular wine and spirits sales with a genuinely international buyer base — its own figures are more than sixty thousand lots sold and buyers in over sixty-five countries, served from offices in Scotland, London and the Netherlands. That Dutch office matters after Brexit, because it gives the business a route into the EU that most British wine auctioneers lack.

What you can buy

• Fine and collectable wine.
• Spirits, with Scotch whisky a natural strength given the Scottish base.
• Wine held in bond, sold duty-suspended.

How the bidding works

Sales run to a published calendar with the next auction date on the front page, and registration is required to bid. The buyer's guidance is unusually complete and worth reading: separate pages cover buying in bond, fees and payment terms, a UK versus EU lot guide, shipping, storage, and the additional requirements for bidding over £2,000.

What to check before you bid

The UK/EU lot distinction is the one that costs money if you get it wrong — where a lot physically sits determines the duty and VAT you pay and whether it can be shipped to you at all. Read that guide before bidding rather than after. Buying in bond keeps duty suspended but ties the wine to a bonded warehouse until you take it out.