journals

Peace of Mind

For wine lovers with large collections, storage is often an afterthought. This is understandable. The intrinsic quality of the wines themselves, the provenance, the experience – and yes, sometimes the display – all of these are considered fundamental to their enjoyment of their wine. And rightly so – they are…

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Protecting Your Wine Collection: Avoid These Costly Storage Mistakes

Fine wine is a legacy, an asset, and a passion. But without the right protection, its value, provenance, and quality can be lost. At Octavian, we are more than just a storage provider. We are custodians of the world’s most precious wine collections. We don’t just store your wine; we…

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Golden Vines Weekend 2024

The Golden Vines Weekend 2024 brought together fine wine collectors, connoisseurs, and industry leaders in a grand celebration of wine and philanthropy. Held in Madrid, the weekend aimed to raise vital funds for the Gérard Basset Foundation, an organisation dedicated to creating a more diverse and inclusive future in the…

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Carved in stone: the unique history of Octavian Vaults

Our home, locally known as Eastlays Mine, has a fascinating history from its origins in stone quarrying to its contemporary use in fine wine storage.

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Octavian fundraises to help support Wiltshire Air Ambulance

We are proud to have featured in an article by Erin Wright in the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald, the article is reproduced below.  

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Complacent about wine storage security? A cautionary tale

For Wine Merchant Tuggy Meyer, the loss of £200,000 worth of his wine from his professional storage provider earlier this year is not a myth within the fine wine industry and worryingly, nor is the theft an isolated incident. Inconceivable though it may seem, Meyer’s high value stock was lifted…

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The Most Impressive New Wine Releases From 2017

As most fine wine aficionados will know, it can take several years for experts to establish the best vintages and often, experts across the world are divided on the most impressive wine releases. Wine is of course a matter of taste but generally, the most reputable sommeliers and wine experts…

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Top wine bars in London

If you have been enjoying the latest articles here at the Octavian blog, then we have a treat for you in the form of our latest fine wine feature. We have been covering everything from the best English vineyards to the best way to decant your wine, but today we…

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The meaning behind a wine’s colour

To a novice, the colour of wine can seem like quite an elementary affair. Red, rose and white; right? The fact of the matter is that the meaning of wine colour is a lot more intricate than that and getting to know the nuances of wine colour meaning can be the difference between…

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6 white wines perfect for the spring season

Now that spring has finally decided to show its face in the here in the UK, we have seen fit to take a look at some of the very best white wines you should be considering this year. As we move out of the chilly winter months, many will be switching…

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Wine podcasts worth listening to

Although podcasts have been around for years, since the advent of the iPod and other Apple devices in fact, it is only in recent times that they have found such intense popularity. A number of factors have impacted this from the quality of podcast available to increasing data allowances and…

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Where did wine originate?

The story of where wine originates from is a fascinating one and a debate that has raged on for many millennia, still without a clear and conclusive answer. To be honest, the version of events will differ greatly depending on where in the world you are from as the beverage…

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Why you should change your Champagne to wine this new years

With party hosts, bar and restaurant managers and event planners around the UK currently organising their 2018 New Year’s Eve parties, a beg decision for all involved will be what they should serve throughout the evening. As wine aficionados, this is obviously a topic very close to our hearts here…

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What Is Noble Rot & How Does It Affect Wine Flavour?

If you have been visiting the Octavian site for a while, then you will no doubt have been enjoying our great wine features on everything from the best way to invest, to storage advice. Today, we look to focus on an area that has accumulated some myth over the years,…

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Temperature and Air Quality

Your fine wine doesn’t just need time to mature. It needs the right temperature, too. Fine wine has always been stored underground. Why? Because 100ft underground the temperature remains stable. When we founded Colerne Reserve, we wanted to replicate the natural conditions in Corsham Cellars. So we engineered a comprehensive…

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Humidity

Dry conditions can be disastrous for your fine wine. That’s why humidity is crucial. Low humidity can cause the cork to dry, and your fine wine to evaporate more quickly. Ultimately, this affects the neck level in your bottle, and causes a drop in value. The extra air in the…

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Wine Insurance: What You Need to Know

Vintage and fine wines are quickly coming to the fore as collectors benefit from what has become one of the best performing asset classes of the last 20 years. So nowadays it’s not just fine wine enthusiasts who collect expensive wines, but also prudent investors who see them as fantastic…

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Additional Services

Number of cases Charge per case Bottle picking (relates to 1-12 bottles) *excludes mixed cases £5.48 per case Content checking £5.47 per wooden case £3.42 per cardboard carton Under bond mixed cases – POA (Please contact customer services) Photography £11.06 per case Case banding £0.95 per finished case DRe-packing cases…

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The Wine Lover’s Ultimate Gift List

Wine lovers can sometimes be tricky to buy gifts for, especially if you aren’t really an expert on fine wines yourself. Buy something too expensive and find out is wrong and you have wasted a lot of money, or go the other end of the scale and you could well…

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Some New English Sparkling Wines to Try

English sparkling wine has experienced something of a revolution in recent times. If you had uttered the words “English Wine” not so long ago,  you would have been laughed off the vineyard, especially on the continent, but things are a little bit different these days. We are not saying that our…

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Our Favourite Wine Books of 2018

As our regular readers will tell you, we are nearly as committed to educating our readers about all things wine as we are cellarage and wine storage. We have covered the best wine websites and podcasts in the past but today we have decided to take a look at our favourite…

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How To Promote Your New Wine Brand

If you have recently made the very worthwhile foray into the wine production business, then you may well be keen to learn the best way to promote your brand. These days, just having the best product isn’t enough and a lack of research on the best way to sell your line…

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How to Open a Bottle of Wine Like a Sommelier

Opening a bottle of wine like a professional sommelier is easy right? Wrong. Even in the most prestigious of establishments in the UK, the art of opening a bottle of wine properly and traditionally seems to have died out. We think this is something that needs to change. There are…

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How to Join the Wine Grape Harvest

As we sip our favourite wines of an evening, or even a lunchtime if you are so inclined, we rarely think about just how this fine beverage has ended up in our glass. Of course, the more seasoned sommeliers and wine experts may do so every now and again but…

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How do you become a wine judge?

For more than three decades, the team here at Octavian has helped fine wine connoisseurs from across the UK deepen the value and pleasure they get from their beloved wine collections. Not content with just providing this exemplary service via our cutting edge Corsham Cellars, we have also built up…

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How does soil influence wine quality

Many of our readers here at Octavian come to our blog to learn about wine, the way it is made and of course, the very best fine wines they should be drinking and investing in. This educational aspect is something we have to come to really enjoy and as such, we…

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Complacent about wine storage security? A cautionary tale

For Wine Merchant Tuggy Meyer, the loss of £200,000 worth of his wine from his professional storage provider earlier this year is not a myth within the fine wine industry and worryingly, nor is the theft an isolated incident. Inconceivable though it may seem, Meyer’s high value stock was lifted…

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Combine Summer Holiday and Wine Tasting in Italy

If you are a regular reader here at Octavian, then the chances are that you enjoy combining great wine with your holidays. Indeed, the two complement each other perfectly causing many wine investors and enthusiasts alike to combine their two favourite things by travelling the world’s finest vineyards. For this reason,…

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Asian Wine: Why we Should be Interested

Asia and fine wine are not things you would necessarily expect to be synonymous. Thankfully, due to advances in viticultural techniques and an increasing demand for excellent wines in the region, Asian wine is most definitely on an upward curve. From Japan to China and even great produce coming from…

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8 Traditional Easter Wine Pairings

8 Traditional Easter Wine Pairings Easter is nearly upon us once again and with it a whole new set of wine pairing conundrums. It seems that no sooner has the dust settled on a busy Christmas and New Year period, that we are again organising our Easter festivities for 2018…

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The 7 Best Snacks To Serve With Wine

We talk a lot here at Octavian about the very finest wines from around the world and just how you can invest in these and of course store them in facilities such as ours. But sometimes, we neglect to discuss the one thing that goes with wine better than anything in…

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6 Wine Festivals Around The World Not to Miss

The bedrock of any festival is of course, alcohol. Whether you are at a famous music festival such as Glastonbury or Coachella, or one of the many wine festivals across the globe; the event is made all the more enjoyable through the process of enjoying fine wine or other alcoholic…

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Certificate Of Pristine Storage

Today’s wine buyers and auctioneers know that properly cellared wine commands a premium. Over time, buyers will not just ask for fine wine, but tangible proof of properly stored fine wine. Octavian Vaults’ unique certificate officially authenticates that your wine has been laid down in correct conditions whilst in our…

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Top Wine Instagram Accounts to Follow

There can be no doubt about it, Instagram is now the social media platform of choice for anyone looking to learn more about their favourite hobbies and pastimes. Although the likes of Facebook and Twitter are still widely used, you simply can’t beat “Insta” when looking to share your memories…

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The Most Spectacular Wine Regions of Europe

There can be little doubt about it, Europe produces the world’s finest wines. Although the new world regions are getting better all the time, wines from the classic regions of Europe quite simply set the standard and many of the methods used across South America, Australia, South Africa and New…

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Rosé Wine’s Origin and How It is Made

Rosé wine is one of the world’s most popular wines and actually one of the oldest, something many people are unaware of. Despite this, there are some myths and misconceptions about rosé that we hear quite a lot at Octavian. We have therefore put this handy guide together, detailing rosé wine’s origin and how…

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How to use wine lingo

  If you are new to the world of fine wine but are enjoying learning all about its nuances, then one of the biggest aspects to this has been the wine lingo you hear many people speaking in. Seasoned sommeliers and wine enthusiasts are somewhat infamous for using all sorts of…

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An Overview of Japanese Wine

You may not necessarily associate Japan or other areas of Asia with fine wine, but as we investigate in the latest feature here at the Octavian blog, Koshu could well emerge as one of the standout grapes to look out for in the future. As part of a series of guides…

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Bordeaux Index Signs with Octavian

Octavian, the leading fine wine services business, announced on 20th September 2012 that it has signed a long term agreement with Bordeaux Index, one of the world’s largest fine wine merchants, to provide storage and distribution services. Over the coming months Bordeaux Index will be moving all of its stocks…

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Armit moves to Octavian’s Colerne Reserve

Octavian, the leading fine wine services business, announced on 1st October 2012 that it has retained Armit Wines on a long term agreement, to provide storage and distribution services. Over the coming months Armit Wines will be moving all of its stocks into Octavian’s Colerne Reserve, at Colerne in Wiltshire.…

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Octavian takes centre stage as logistics business is sold

Culina Group Limited (‘Culina’), the market-leading provider of shared-user logistics services for food and drink companies, has announced an agreement to take over the supply chain activities of Cert Octavian Holdings plc (‘Cert Octavian’) from Monday 23 April 2012. The terms of the agreement, including consideration, have not been disclosed.…

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China Hoists its Sails

Per capita wine consumption in the country is still minuscule but the total wine market has grown exponentially. …read more

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Ella Lister joins Octavian to develop fine wine strategy and service innovation

Miss Lister’s primary role will be the origination, research and development of new business strategies and services for Octavian. Based between London and Corsham, she will draw on her business development background and wine industry knowledge in forging a long term strategy that will continue to strengthen and broaden the…

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Year’s end. The big picture.

A round up of 2010’s auction facts and figures, plus a look at wine-storage facilities and their role in protecting vinous investments …download the pdf

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The Octavian Library Collection – The Results Are In

The aim of the Octavian Library Collection was to highlight readily available wines at 5 and 10 years old, with particular attention to their cellaring potential. Wines were blind-tasted by experts including Tim Atkin MW, Sam Harrop MW, Charles Metcalfe and Derek Smedley MW, and scored out of 100. This…

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