Cellar consulting.
A small number of clients work directly with Brett on building cellars, sourcing rare bottles, and designing tastings.
Honest, low-pressure, professional.
Cellar consulting at Boulder Wine Merchant is not a productized service with tiers and feature lists. It is a working relationship between Brett and a small number of clients — usually fewer than twenty at any given time — who have made the decision to take their cellar seriously.
The engagement starts with a conversation. We sit down for an hour or two, usually at the shop, sometimes at your home if the cellar is already partially built. We talk about what you actually drink, what you want to drink, what you have already collected, and what is reasonable given storage, budget, and the time you have to wait for wines that need patience.
From there, we build a working list. Some clients want a focused vertical of one producer or region. Some want a balanced cellar across regions. Some want a specific occasion cellar (anniversaries, birth-year wines for children, milestone bottles for a future event). The format follows the goal.
Beyond just selling bottles.
Sourcing — including bottles we do not stock. The shop’s allocations are deep but not infinite. When a cellar plan calls for a bottle we cannot get through our distribution channels — an older library release, a producer we do not represent, a single-bottle estate — we work the auction market and our trade relationships to source it for you.
Cellar audit and inventory. If you already have a cellar, we will spend a session walking through what is there, flagging bottles that need to be drunk soon, identifying gaps, and sometimes recommending de-acquisition of bottles that no longer fit your goals.
Pull schedules. A real cellar plan includes a drinking schedule. We will tell you which bottles to open this year, which to hold for five years, and which to forget about for a decade. The point is to actually drink the wine you have collected, in the window where it shows best.
Private tastings. Most consulting clients eventually do a private tasting, either at the shop after hours or at home. These are designed to teach as much as to drink — usually structured as a horizontal of one vintage across several producers, or a vertical of one producer across many vintages.
Transparent and case-by-case.
There is no flat fee for an initial cellar consultation. The first conversation is free; we use it to understand whether the engagement makes sense for both sides. From there, structure varies by what you actually need.
Most clients work on a retainer-against-purchases basis — an annual figure that covers ongoing advice and is credited against bottle purchases through the shop. For specialized sourcing through outside channels, we charge a transparent finder’s fee on top of cost. For private tasting events, we quote a per-event flat fee.
Brett works directly with cellar clients. The relationship does not get handed off to staff. That naturally caps how many clients we can work with; we keep the list small on purpose.
A cellar built around what you actually drink.
The first meeting is free and takes about an hour. Email info@boulderwine.com or call 303-443-6761 to schedule.
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