The Wine Broker Company began with a single conviction: that the finest wines of the world deserve to reach the hands of those who would truly appreciate them, wherever in the world those hands might be. Twenty-five years later, that conviction has not changed.

From a small office on the Quai des Chartrons, the historic heart of the Bordeaux wine trade where merchants have negotiated allocations from the great châteaux since the eighteenth century, we have built one of the most carefully curated cellars in Europe. Today we serve collectors, restaurants, hoteliers, and private connoisseurs in sixty-eight countries.

The Philosophy

We are not a wine shop. We are a maison de négoce: the centuries-old French institution that exists between vineyard and collector, securing allocations from estates that do not sell directly to the public, ensuring authenticity, providing climate-controlled storage, and orchestrating delivery to wherever in the world the wine must travel.

The wines we offer are not chosen by algorithm. Every bottle in our catalogue has been tasted by our team of certified sommeliers, evaluated for its faithfulness to terroir and vintage, and authenticated against its château of origin. Bottles that do not meet our standard are returned. Bottles that do are aged in our cellar at a constant twelve degrees Celsius with seventy percent humidity until the moment they are dispatched.

The Cellar

Our cellar at 9 Rue Condé occupies the cool subterranean limestone caves typical of the centre of Bordeaux. The conditions are exactly those that the wines have known since fermentation: constant temperature, stable humidity, complete darkness, total silence. Wines arrive here directly from the châteaux, never from intermediaries, never from secondary markets, and they remain here, undisturbed, until they are dispatched to their final destinations in temperature-monitored cases.

The Network

Twenty-five years of quarter-century relationships with the most prestigious estates of France have given us access to allocations that simply do not appear in the public market: the Premier Grand Crus of Bordeaux, the monopoles of Burgundy, the Super Tuscans of Bolgheri, the Barolos of Piedmont, and the historic Riojas. We have direct accounts with hundreds of estates, and we honour those relationships with discretion, fair commerce, and absolute respect for the work of the vignerons themselves.

The Service

The Wine Broker Company is a partnership. Our clients are private individuals building decades-long cellars, restaurants seeking allocations for their lists, hoteliers furnishing the world's finest properties, and institutions assembling reference collections. Each is served by a dedicated sommelier who knows their preferences, their cellar, their occasions, and their projects. We offer personalised allocations, en primeur subscriptions, vertical collections, gift services, and private tastings, all with the discretion that the trade has practised since long before our doors first opened.

Beneath the streets of Bordeaux lies a network of limestone galleries carved out by generations of wine merchants since the seventeenth century. It is in these galleries, cool, silent, and entirely shielded from the variations of the surface world, that The Wine Broker Company maintains its cellar.

For a great wine to age as it should, four conditions must be perfectly met: temperature, humidity, light, and stillness. A few degrees of variation, a few months of dryness, a single beam of sunlight, the vibration of a passing lorry. Any one of these is enough to compromise a wine forever. The reason that mature bottles of Lafite, Pétrus, or Romanée-Conti command the prices they do is not their age but their provenance: the assurance that, in the decades between bottling and uncorking, the wine has never left conditions identical to those of its original cellar.

Climate Control

Our cellar is maintained year-round at twelve degrees Celsius and seventy percent relative humidity: the exact conditions of the château cellars themselves. Three independent climate systems monitor every gallery in real time, with redundancy ensuring that a single failure cannot affect the conditions of the wines. Temperature variations greater than half a degree trigger immediate alerts to our cellar master, on call twenty-four hours.

Authentication & Provenance

Every bottle entering our cellar is verified against the château's records. We inspect labels, capsules, fill levels, and where applicable cross-reference the bottle's code with the estate's tracking system. Bottles whose provenance cannot be verified are refused and returned. Each authenticated bottle is issued a certificate of provenance which travels with the wine to its final destination.

This is not merely good practice; it is the foundation of our work. Counterfeit fine wine is a problem of growing magnitude, and we treat the integrity of our cellar as our highest duty to our clients. We do not buy on the secondary market. We do not accept consignments from private collectors. Every bottle in our cellar has come to us directly from the château or from the most established and verifiable importers.

Private Storage

For collectors who wish to keep their bottles aging in conditions superior to those they could maintain at home, The Wine Broker Company offers private cellar storage. Your bottles rest in our cellar under your name, fully insured, and remain entirely your property. You may consult your inventory online at any time, request bottles to be dispatched on a moment's notice, and add to your holdings as you acquire new wines. Annual storage fees are modest and based on the volume held.

Many of our oldest clients have built cellars of several thousand bottles with us over the course of decades, cellars that, were they kept at home, would require enormous investment in dedicated storage infrastructure, and would still not equal the conditions of a true cellar like ours.

Visit Our Cellar

The Wine Broker Company welcomes serious collectors by private appointment to visit the cellar, taste from open bottles, and meet our sommeliers. Tastings are bespoke, scheduled around the wines you wish to discover, and held in the historic tasting room above the cellar at the Quai des Chartrons. To arrange a visit, please contact our office directly.

The journey of a great bottle does not end when it leaves the cellar. The wine must arrive at its destination in precisely the same condition in which it departed: never overheated, never frozen, never shaken. The logistics of fine wine delivery are no less important than the conditions of cellaring.

Delivery Times

Our standard delivery times below are calculated from the moment the order is processed (typically within twenty-four hours of receipt) to the moment of signature at the destination. All shipments depart from our Bordeaux cellar.

Climate-Controlled Transport

From May through September across most of the northern hemisphere, ambient temperatures pose a serious threat to fine wine in transit. During these months, we recommend, and for certain destinations require, the use of climate-controlled cases. Our insulated phase-change cases maintain an internal temperature between ten and fifteen degrees Celsius for up to seventy-two hours, even when subjected to external temperatures up to forty-five degrees.

Climate-controlled cases carry a supplementary charge of forty-five euros per case (six bottles per case). For destinations in the tropics or during extreme weather conditions, we may also delay departure until temperatures along the route are favourable. Your sommelier will advise.

Packaging & Protection

Every bottle that leaves our cellar is individually wrapped in protective sleeves and seated in custom-cut moulded polystyrene inserts within reinforced double-walled cases. Cases are sealed with tamper-evident tape and bear no external indication of their contents. Tracking and signature on delivery are included on every shipment without exception.

Customs & Duties

For shipments outside the European Union, customs duties and local taxes are the responsibility of the recipient unless otherwise arranged. The Wine Broker Company handles all export documentation, including health certificates, certificates of origin, and any other paperwork required by the destination country. For certain markets, notably the United States and Hong Kong, we partner with established importers to ensure full compliance with local regulations.

Insurance

All shipments are insured to their full declared value, including against breakage, theft, and temperature damage. Claims are processed promptly and without bureaucratic friction. In the rare event of a problem in transit, your bottles are immediately replaced from cellar stock where possible, or fully refunded.

Fine wine is a delicate product and a trade governed by mutual confidence. The Wine Broker Company stands behind every bottle that leaves its cellar: against breakage, against fault in the wine itself, against any failure of our service. Where a problem arises, our policy is to resolve it without dispute and without delay.

Damaged in Transit

In the rare event that a bottle arrives broken or visibly compromised, please photograph the case and bottle immediately upon receipt and contact us within forty-eight hours at info@winebrokercompany.com. We will arrange immediate replacement from cellar stock, or a full refund, whichever you prefer, without requiring the return of the damaged bottle. Our insurance covers all transit damage.

Corked or Faulty Wine

A wine that is corked, oxidised, prematurely aged, or otherwise faulty due to a defect in its bottling or storage prior to reaching us is unacceptable. If a bottle is faulty upon opening, please retain the bottle, capsule, and cork, and contact us within seven days. Where the fault is verified by our sommeliers, we will replace the bottle from cellar stock or issue a full refund. For bottles of exceptional value, our sommelier may request to examine the cork and capsule to confirm the source of the fault.

Please note: the wine being not to your personal preference is not a fault. Wines from older vintages develop characteristics such as tertiary aromas, declining fruit, and fine sediments, all of which are entirely normal and even desirable. If you are uncertain whether a wine is faulty, your sommelier at The Wine Broker Company will be glad to advise.

Right of Withdrawal

For shipments within the European Union, consumers benefit from a fourteen-day right of withdrawal as provided under EU consumer protection law. To exercise this right, please inform us in writing within fourteen days of receipt. The bottles must be returned in their original packaging, unopened, with all original protective materials intact. Return shipping is the responsibility of the customer for withdrawal requests not arising from a fault in the goods.

Please note that this right does not apply to bottles which have been opened, to bespoke allocations or en primeur subscriptions, or to bottles that have been personalised in any way (engraving, special labelling, gift wrapping with personal messages).

Cancellation of Orders

Orders may be cancelled without charge at any time before dispatch. Once dispatched, the order may still be cancelled but standard return conditions will apply. For pre-orders and en primeur allocations, cancellation policies are specified at the time of the order and reflect the conditions imposed by the château itself. En primeur allocations cannot generally be cancelled once confirmed.

Refunds

Approved refunds are processed within five business days to the original method of payment. For wire transfers and bank transfers, processing time may extend to ten business days depending on the receiving bank.

Site Publisher

Publication Director

The director of publication is the legal representative of THE WINE BROKER COMPANY. Editorial responsibility for the content of this site is held by the company's board of directors.

Hosting

This site is hosted by Netlify, Inc. 2325 3rd Street, Suite 296, San Francisco, California 94107, United States.

Intellectual Property

All content on this site, including but not limited to text, photographs, illustrations, logos, trademarks, layout, source code, and database structure, is the exclusive property of THE WINE BROKER COMPANY or its licensors and is protected under French and international laws governing intellectual property. Any reproduction, representation, modification, publication, adaptation, in whole or in part, of any element of the site, by whatever means and on whatever medium, without the prior written authorisation of THE WINE BROKER COMPANY, is prohibited and may constitute counterfeiting punishable under Articles L.335-2 and following of the French Intellectual Property Code.

Brand names of the wines presented on this site, including but not limited to Château Pétrus, Château Margaux, Château Lafite Rothschild, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Sassicaia, and all others, remain the exclusive property of their respective rightsholders and are used here solely to identify the products offered for sale.

Limitation of Liability

THE WINE BROKER COMPANY takes the greatest care in the accuracy of the information published on this site, but does not guarantee the absence of errors. THE WINE BROKER COMPANY reserves the right to modify, update, or remove any content at any time without prior notice. THE WINE BROKER COMPANY cannot be held liable for any direct or indirect damages resulting from the use of this site or from the inability to access it, except in cases of gross negligence on the part of THE WINE BROKER COMPANY.

Alcohol & Responsible Consumption

The abuse of alcohol is dangerous to health. Consume in moderation. In accordance with French Law (Loi Évin) and the legislation of other jurisdictions, this site is reserved for persons of legal drinking age in their country of residence. Sales are strictly forbidden to minors. By entering this site you confirm that you are of legal drinking age in your country of residence.

Applicable Law & Jurisdiction

This site and any contracts arising from sales conducted through it are governed by French law. Any dispute arising from the use of the site, or from any contract entered into with THE WINE BROKER COMPANY through the site, shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Bordeaux, France, except where otherwise required by mandatory consumer protection law applicable to the consumer's place of residence.

The Wine Broker Company respects the privacy of every visitor and client. The data we collect is used solely to provide the service you have requested, and is never sold, shared with advertisers, or used for purposes you have not explicitly approved.

Data Controller

The data controller for personal information collected through this site is THE WINE BROKER COMPANY, 9 Rue Condé, 33000 Bordeaux, France. Questions regarding the processing of your personal data, or the exercise of your rights under data protection law, should be addressed to info@winebrokercompany.com.

Data We Collect

We collect only the data necessary to provide our service. This includes:

• Identification data: name, postal address, email, telephone number, date of birth (to verify legal drinking age).
• Transaction data: records of orders placed. We do not collect or store card details on this site; payment is arranged securely and individually by email once your order is confirmed.
• Communication data: emails exchanged with our sommeliers, notes regarding preferences and allocations.
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, pages visited, collected via cookies (see below) for the operation and security of the site.

Purposes of Processing

We process your personal data for the following legitimate purposes:

• To process and deliver your orders.
• To respond to your inquiries and provide customer service.
• To manage your account, allocations, and private cellar.
• To send you the Wine Broker Company Journal newsletter, only where you have explicitly subscribed.
• To comply with legal obligations (tax records, customs documentation, age verification).
• To prevent fraud and ensure the security of our systems.

Legal Basis & Retention

The legal basis for our processing of your data is, depending on the case, the performance of the contract between us, the satisfaction of legal obligations, our legitimate interest in operating a fine-wine merchant business, or your explicit consent. We retain data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and in any case no longer than required by applicable law (typically ten years for tax and accounting records).

Data Sharing

We share your data only with the following categories of recipient, each of whom is bound by strict confidentiality and data processing obligations:

• Carriers: FedEx, DHL, UPS, Chronopost. Only the address and contact details necessary for delivery.
• Payment coordination: your details are used solely by our own team to arrange secure payment with you directly by email; we do not share them with third-party payment processors.
• Tax authorities and customs: only where required by law for international shipments and tax reporting.

We never sell or rent your data to third parties for marketing or any other purpose.

Your Rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access: obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right of rectification: correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right of erasure: request the deletion of your data, subject to legal retention obligations.
• Right to restrict processing: limit how we process your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: receive your data in a structured, commonly used format.
• Right to object: object to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling and direct marketing.
• Right to withdraw consent: at any time, where processing is based on your consent.
• Right to lodge a complaint: with the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) or your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@winebrokercompany.com. We will respond within one month.

Cookies

This site uses a minimum of cookies, strictly necessary for the operation of the site (session management, shopping cart, language preference). We do not use third-party advertising cookies, behavioural tracking, or social media pixels without your consent. Where additional cookies are used (for analytics, for example), they are activated only after you have explicitly consented via our cookie banner.

Security

We protect your data using industry-standard security measures: encrypted connections (SSL/TLS), encrypted storage, restricted access on a need-to-know basis, regular security audits, and intrusion detection. Payment data is handled exclusively by PCI-DSS Level 1 certified processors and never stored on our systems. In the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities within the seventy-two hours required by law.

Some of the most extraordinary wines we receive at The Wine Broker Company never appear in the public catalogue. They are offered first to a small circle of established collectors who have asked, over the years, to be notified before the rest of the world.

A case of Pétrus from an exceptional vintage. A vertical of Lafite Rothschild spanning four decades. A single bottle of DRC Romanée-Conti released by a private estate in Switzerland. These do not sit on a shelf. They are spoken for before they arrive.

What the Allocation Includes

Membership in the Wine Broker Company allocation list is by invitation, extended after a collector has built a relationship with the maison. There is no fee, no subscription, no obligation to purchase. What you receive is access:

En Primeur Campaigns

Each spring, we present a curated selection from the Bordeaux en primeur tastings. Wines reserved at release prices, delivered in bottle two years later. Premier Crus, Saint-Émilion Grands Crus Classés, and select Right Bank estates.

Vertical Collections

When an estate or private cellar releases a vertical collection, we are often given first refusal. Lafite 1982 to 2010. Mouton 1986 to 2016. Sassicaia 1985 to present. These collections are split among allocation members before any are offered publicly.

Private Parcels

Estates occasionally release single parcels, often only a few cases, that never reach the open market. Yquem 1967. Margaux 1900. Krug Clos du Mesnil from a discontinued vintage. We receive notice from the château, you receive notice from us.

Auction Proxy Service

When a particularly rare lot appears at Christie's, Sotheby's, or Hart Davis Hart, allocation members may instruct The Wine Broker Company to bid on their behalf. We handle authentication, transport, climate-controlled storage, and customs clearance.

How to Join

There is no application form. Allocation membership develops naturally from the relationship between a collector and the maison. Generally, we extend invitations to clients who have placed several substantial orders, or who have expressed interest in vintages and estates outside the public catalogue.

If you wish to be considered, the simplest path is to write to us directly at info@winebrokercompany.com and tell us a little about your cellar, your preferences, and the estates you collect. We will respond within forty-eight hours.

Confidentiality

The names of allocation members are never shared, sold, or used for any commercial purpose. We do not announce our clients, publish testimonials, or maintain a public list. The wines that pass through your hands at The Wine Broker Company remain entirely between you and us.