Frequently Asked Questions

Payment terms

Payments must be made in full, without deduction, setoff or counter claim, by the date specified on the invoice. Customers insurance will automatically cease if payment is not received by the due date. Consistently overdue amounts will attract 1% per month penalty interest.

Rental invoices (for storage) are payable in advance. Cases brought in during the year will be charged on a pro-rata basis per month, based on the number of months left until the yearly renewal date.

Rates

These are as per our Fee Schedule. WineSafe reserves the right to alter these rates at any time.

Customers whose stockholding level alters to above or below the levels set for their current rate will have a new rate established at their annual review date.

Deposits

The minimum storage period is 2 years. You may withdraw wine during that time but at least 50% of your holdings must remain in storage for 2 years.

The minimum deposit is 6 bottles, with any subsequent deposits preferably being in 6 or 12 bottle groupings. WineSafe can accommodate 1-3 bottle deposits in special racks for which a slightly higher storage fee is applied.

The fee for depositing wines and any other work is as per our fee schedule.
The customer shall package all deposits in a secure and suitable manner for storage and final re-transportation.

Removal of stocks / Withdrawals

All monies due to The Wine Safe by the customer must be paid and cleared in full prior to release of stock. An administration (withdrawal) charge will apply.

Instead of storage rebates, WineSafe offers a "case exchange" system, where cases of the same size may be exchanged (deposited and withdrawn), at the same time on the same day, avoiding any loss of pre-paid cellar rental.

Sufficient stock must be held in our cellars at all times to cover all outstanding money. In the event of failure by the customer to pay any amount due to WineSafe or to remove any goods from the custody and control of WineSafe, (notice having been fairly given), The WineSafe may, at the due time, without prejudice to its other rights and remedies against the customer, give notice in writing of their intention to sell or otherwise dispose of the goods via auction. The proceeds of the sale or disposal shall be remitted to the customer after deduction of all expenses and all amounts due to WineSafe from the customer.

WineSafe shall be entitled to make an additional charge for any amendments or cancellations, or if incorrect information was provided.

PLEASE NOTE: WineSafe is open for business 48 weeks of the year. We close for four weeks every year on or around the 15th of December for our annual holidays.

Provision of Information

WineSafe relies on the accurate and timely provision by the customer of all information regarding the customers profile, delivery addresses, fax, email and telephone numbers.

Privacy

Winesafe is subject to privacy laws. As such we do not allow customers to view inside our client held stock rooms. You are however welcome to view the environment that the cool rooms operate in, and inspect one of our identical Truffle stock storage rooms.

Claims

WineSafe will only accept a claim for actual stock damaged or lost within 28 days of notification of such damage or loss. WineSafe shall have no liability for claims related to individual or connected incidents with a value of $50.00 or less.

All claims will be at replacement or market value; whichever shall be the lower.

Receipt of Goods

WineSafe will, at a time deemed suitable by WineSafe, provide the customer by mail or email with an invoice confirming the receipt of stock. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that the details contained within this document are correct, as the WineSafe does not accept any financial liability for the input of incorrect data.

Stock Control

WineSafe will undertake regular location checks, and discrepancies will be reported to the customer. Authorised personnel will be allowed access to the relevant facilities in order to undertake random physical stock checks once a year.

Ullage, Spoilage, and Corked wines

WineSafe guarantees to maintain suitable conditions for the long-term cellaring of wine in circumstances under our control. For obvious reasons we do not and cannot guarantee the quality of individual wines stored by us irrespective of the length of tenancy.

There are set, non-negotiable fees payable in advance for the annual storage and insurance, and other fees for deposits, withdrawals and couriers. Please see our current Fee Schedule here.

Payments are due the 20th of the month following the transaction. All new  deposits are billed monthly on a pro-rata basis, based on the anniversary of your first deposit, along with any insurance and associated deposit fees.

Withdrawals can be made Tuesday to Saturday with 24 hours notice. Withdrawal requests must be received by email or fax by 3pm the day before collection as all removals are carried out after Truffle has closed for the day.

We are closed for four weeks each year from around the 10th of December to the 10th of January depending on when Fridays fall.

One of the most regular questions I am asked is when a particular wine should be drunk/withdrawn. In order for me to answer that question accurately, there are (at least) three considerations:

1. Most importantly, I need to know your personal taste.
2. I need to have drunk that vintage of that exact wine fairly recently.
3. I need to know where the bottle has been all its life.

 As I rarely know even 1 of the 3 points above, I am unable to comment, and as such do not offer maturity assessments as a service.  If you go on-line and do some research I'm sure you will find many different views on the exact same wine.

However, if you have purchased the wine from Truffle, I will know the answer to points 2 & 3, and can ask you about point 1. This allows me to make a prediction of the wines drinking window.  

A free valuation of your wines is carried out at the time of their deposit. Those values then stand until updated at the client's request. Insurance is available for either the wines 'Full Replacement' value, or their 'Current Vintage' purchase price, although the latter  seldom reflects a wines true replacement cost. 98% of our clients choose 'Full Replacement' value insurance.

Full insurance cover against fire, earthquake and burglary is at 1.5% of the agreed value of your wine.

Whilst your wines are in our care they are insured against breakage, or theft by a staff member, under our own insurance cover at no charge.

The Cellar Manager (and one of WineSafe's founders) is John Follas, who has been in the wine trade for over 25 years. His past employers include Tasman Liquor, Hadleighs, Bond St Liquor and  Rumbles Wine Merchants. John also carries out independent cellar valuations for insurance companies, auction houses and private individuals.

As well as running WineSafe, John runs Truffle Imports, a specialist wine importer and distributor in Garrett St Wellington. This is now the main point of contact for all WineSafe business.

All withdrawals are carried out after Truffle has closed, so your email or fax must be received no later than 3pm the day before your wine is required. Your withdrawal can be collected anytime the following day during our business hours of 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday. (Closed on Sundays and public holidays.) 

Please note that we are a long-term storage facility, that we only accept clients for a minimum of two years, and that our annual storage fees are non-refundable.

When making withdrawals, please remember to quote both the case number and the Bin number of the case required. If withdrawing individual bottles, you'll need to let us know exactly which bottles you require, as well as their case & bin number.

Your annual storage cycle commences the month of your first deposit. As rental is payable annually in advance, any subsequent cases deposited during the year are billed on a pro-rata basis based on the number of months left until the anniversary of your first deposit.

Wines deposited before the 20th of the month are billed from the first of that month, whilst wines deposited after the 20th are billed from the first of the following month.

All cases should be named and sequentially numbered before being deposited. We recommend that any wines you wish to withdraw together be put into the same case. You may exchange cases of the same size at any time without losing pre-paid rental time.

On arrival at WineSafe, all cases have a 'beneficial ownership' disclaimer placed on them which states that the wines are your property, not ours. For convenience, a "case" may be a 6 or 12 bottle size. Storage fees are charged accordingly.

Ideally, wine should be provided in cases which are suitable for long term storage and subsequent freighting.