Guide to Moving Wine

Your wine collection is special to you. It’s the go-to when it’s time to relax after a long week, and it’s your source of pride anytime you have guests over. So, now that you’re moving, executing a flawless wine collection relocation is vital.

Whether you’re moving wine cross country or across the street, let’s take a look at the safest, easiest, and best ways to do so…

Wine Transportation Methods

When it comes to moving wine, you have three core options:

Hiring professional movers
Hiring wine moving specialists
Moving yourself

The ideal middle ground is hiring professional movers. While doing the moving yourself will be free, hiring movers comes with a much lower price tag than hiring wine moving specialists. Plus, you’ll have everything done for you. And when you hire professional movers known for elite service, like Esquire Moving, everything will be done without any time or effort on your part. Plus, we’ll handle your wine with care using state-of-the-art equipment and gentle hands.

Keep in mind that this choice is ideal in the moderate weather months of the year. While some movers can refrigerate wine so everything remains at the ideal temperature, moderate weather will be perfect if professionals are moving your wine.

Make sure you get in touch with prospective moving companies and ask about their process before choosing which movers to use.

Another wine transport possibility is to enlist the service of professional wine movers. This is great if A) you have a very expensive collection, B) need special temperature control, and C) will be travelling a significant distance.

Of course, the biggest downside to this is cost. Professional wine relocation services can quickly become an expensive affair based on the size of your collection and how far you’ll be moving.

If you’ll be going with this option, we recommend getting in touch with several companies in order to compare prices and service.

The third option is to move the wine yourself. On the bright side, this is the most cost-effective option since you won’t be paying movers or specialists. However, you’ll be responsible for getting the moving materials, keeping your wine protected, and doing the actual work involved.

If you have a small collection, this can be a great choice. However, you’ll need to know the ideal way to move wines. Let’s explore the best way to move wine bottles…

How to Pick the Best Method of Transportation

With various options for how to move your wine collection, how do you know which is best for you?

Start by evaluating your wine…

How many bottles do you have?
Is the collection an expensive one?
Is the weather particularly hot or cold when you will be moving?
Will you be moving across town, across the state, across the country, or across borders?

If you have a large or particularly expensive collection, you can cross doing it all yourself off the list. Why? For any large-scale job, you’ll want professionals handling the task. Plus, they’ll have all the materials and equipment needed to keep your wine bottles protected throughout the journey. And for an expensive collection, pick a professional wine relocation service filled with pros who handle wine for a living.

What’s the weather like during your move? If you’ll be moving in the middle of the winter and frigid temperatures are in the forecast, you’ll likely need a moving team or wine transportation experts to handle the moving process. Same for hot temperatures in warmer months. While wine relocation services will have temperature-controlled storage, you’ll need to ask the professional moving company if they offer such amenities.

For a relatively small collection, a short journey, and mild weather, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t move the wine yourself. But if you do, make sure you pay close attention to the best way to pack up that wine collection…

Properly Preparing to Move Your Wine

The first step in preparing your wine is checking up on the rules, regulations, and laws. Some countries and states have special rules related to bringing wine into their borders, so be sure you know exactly what you need to do before getting started.

Next, get your wine collection appraised. You can do a quick Google search or even ask the local wine dealer about this service. With an appraisal, you’ll A) know the value of your collection, and B) get a proper reimbursement in the case that any sort of issue occurs during the process.

If you’ll be hiring professionals, be sure to let them know this is high-value inventory. There should be some paperwork for you to fill out. But it’s well worth it when the moving professionals know to pay extra special care to those particular boxes.

Finish your open bottles of wine! For a few reasons, you don’t want to move your open bottles. But one particular reason is that having less liquid in the bottle makes it harder to keep the cork wet during the moving process.

That leads us to the next point, which is to pack your wine bottles on their sides. Why? It helps to keep the cork wet, which is the best way to maintain the integrity of the wine.

If you’re moving the wine yourself, get your hands on specialty wine moving boxes. This will make the process much easier and safer for your wine.

Now all you have to do is keep the wine at a comfortable temperature! And once you arrive, let the wine rest for about a week before opening any bottles for consumption.

There’s obviously plenty to worry about when it comes to moving a wine collection. So, if you don’t want to deal with the headaches of buying special boxes, keeping every bottle temperature controlled, and handling your wine collection along with the rest of your move, hire professionals with decades of experience. Here at Esquire Moving, our highly trained moving experts understand that your wine collection is meaningful and valuable to you. That’s why we have a dedicated protocol for moving wine. Have any questions? Ready for us to get started? Simply give Esquire Moving a call. We’ll be eager to deliver excellent service.