LCB showcases the unique sites offering top quality storage for its fine wine customers
The world of fine wine can seem a mysterious one – the question of what to buy and at what price, when will your wine be ready for drinking and at what point will it reach its peak? One question that is easier to answer however, is where to store your precious cargo to keep it secure and in optimum condition. The post LCB showcases the unique sites offering top quality storage for its fine wine customers appeared first on The Drinks Business.
The world of fine wine can seem a mysterious one – the question of what to buy and at what price, when will your wine be ready for drinking and at what point will it reach its peak? One question that is easier to answer however, is where to store your precious cargo to keep it secure and in optimum condition.
London City Bond (LCB), which was recognised as the Best Distribution Company at the drinks business’s awards 2024, has built an enviable reputation among wine collectors, both consumer and the trade for doing exactly this.
Currently, more than 6,500 private customers entrust LCB to look after many tens of thousands of cases – with an even greater number stored via merchants.
To handle this workload, the company operates five unique warehouses dedicated to fine wine storage that provide top quality storage for its customers, both private and merchant. Included is a range of services tailored to the needs of a demanding fine wine trade, from an individual bottle picking service, to high-quality condition reports that can be uploaded to customer’s accounts.
The sites run the whole gamut of architectural security - from a Grade II listed building with metre thick walls (Eton Park); a former MOD-designed ammunition storage facility set in 100 acres of woodland (LCB Dinton); a Cold War nuclear bunker (Drakelow Tunnels); refurbished former aircraft hangers (Melksham) and its newest purpose-built facility (LCB’s Burton Gateway).
As LCB’s director of fine wine, Jane Renwick notes, while LCB is already well known for servicing the hotel and restaurant trade, it also has an enviable record of providing a wide range of top-class facilities for the long-term storage of fine wines.
The vast majority of LCB’s private client accounts are secured at Eton Park (formerly known as Vinotheque) outside Burton-on-Trent. This Victorian Grade II listed building is ideal for fine wine storage and maturation, with its metre thick walls and bespoke temperature and humidity controls that are free from vibration, ultra-violet light and daylight. With an emphasis on personal service, Eton Park has capacity to hold over half a million cases, spread over four floors, while its three photographic studios can provide customers with the very latest 360 degrees imagery of individual bottles.
Nearby is LCB’s newest site, LCB’s Burton Gateway site, completed only six years ago. Boasting state-of-the-art temperature and humidity control, this site is best suited to premium wine trade customers who are seeking a high level of service but who do not necessarily need additional specialist services such as full condition reporting.
Further afield, in the heart of Wiltshire lies LCB Dinton, an MOD-designed ammunition storage facility that comprises sixteen subterranean chambers (many of which are temperature controlled and can be rented in their entirety by customers from the fine wine trade) scattered around a 100-acre site. Dinton has also proved to be ideally located for the ever-growing English wine market, with both sparkling wines laid down in stillages and cases of finished products secured there.
Wiltshire is also home to LCB’s Melksham facility - five former aircraft hangers that have been refurbished to a very high standard to provide LCB with its Southwest transport hub, as well as fully temperature controlled fine wine storage. Such is its renown that three of the hangars are dedicated to providing services to Farr Vintners who relocated their storage to Melksham five years ago.
But it is LCB’s most recent site, Drakelow Tunnels near Kidderminster, that boasts its most interesting history – a mound with prehistoric roots, tunnels were blasted out of solid rock below to create a ‘shadow factory’ for the Rover car company during the Second World War, which saw the auto manufacturer work alongside tank and aircraft manufacturers. The tunnels were later used as a top-secret nuclear bomb shelter during the Cold War, but now its 285,000 square feet of tunnels provide a much-needed service to the fine wine trade. A humidity control system assures near perfect conditions for the long-term storage of fine wines, and it also offers a 360-degree photography of customers’ bottles.
Linking each of these unique fine wine storage sites is LCB’s trunking service which is run entirely in-house. This delivery system connects the fine wine storage to LCB’s regional transport hubs around the UK, as well as its other sites, allowing customers to benefit from trading stock internally without incurring expensive delivery charges.
Which allows you to concentrate on what to add to your collection next.
London City Bond (LCB), which was recognised as the Best Distribution Company at the drinks business’s awards 2024, has built an enviable reputation among wine collectors, both consumer and the trade for doing exactly this.
Currently, more than 6,500 private customers entrust LCB to look after many tens of thousands of cases – with an even greater number stored via merchants.
To handle this workload, the company operates five unique warehouses dedicated to fine wine storage that provide top quality storage for its customers, both private and merchant. Included is a range of services tailored to the needs of a demanding fine wine trade, from an individual bottle picking service, to high-quality condition reports that can be uploaded to customer’s accounts.
The sites run the whole gamut of architectural security - from a Grade II listed building with metre thick walls (Eton Park); a former MOD-designed ammunition storage facility set in 100 acres of woodland (LCB Dinton); a Cold War nuclear bunker (Drakelow Tunnels); refurbished former aircraft hangers (Melksham) and its newest purpose-built facility (LCB’s Burton Gateway).
As LCB’s director of fine wine, Jane Renwick notes, while LCB is already well known for servicing the hotel and restaurant trade, it also has an enviable record of providing a wide range of top-class facilities for the long-term storage of fine wines.
The vast majority of LCB’s private client accounts are secured at Eton Park (formerly known as Vinotheque) outside Burton-on-Trent. This Victorian Grade II listed building is ideal for fine wine storage and maturation, with its metre thick walls and bespoke temperature and humidity controls that are free from vibration, ultra-violet light and daylight. With an emphasis on personal service, Eton Park has capacity to hold over half a million cases, spread over four floors, while its three photographic studios can provide customers with the very latest 360 degrees imagery of individual bottles.
Nearby is LCB’s newest site, LCB’s Burton Gateway site, completed only six years ago. Boasting state-of-the-art temperature and humidity control, this site is best suited to premium wine trade customers who are seeking a high level of service but who do not necessarily need additional specialist services such as full condition reporting.
Further afield, in the heart of Wiltshire lies LCB Dinton, an MOD-designed ammunition storage facility that comprises sixteen subterranean chambers (many of which are temperature controlled and can be rented in their entirety by customers from the fine wine trade) scattered around a 100-acre site. Dinton has also proved to be ideally located for the ever-growing English wine market, with both sparkling wines laid down in stillages and cases of finished products secured there.
Wiltshire is also home to LCB’s Melksham facility - five former aircraft hangers that have been refurbished to a very high standard to provide LCB with its Southwest transport hub, as well as fully temperature controlled fine wine storage. Such is its renown that three of the hangars are dedicated to providing services to Farr Vintners who relocated their storage to Melksham five years ago.
But it is LCB’s most recent site, Drakelow Tunnels near Kidderminster, that boasts its most interesting history – a mound with prehistoric roots, tunnels were blasted out of solid rock below to create a ‘shadow factory’ for the Rover car company during the Second World War, which saw the auto manufacturer work alongside tank and aircraft manufacturers. The tunnels were later used as a top-secret nuclear bomb shelter during the Cold War, but now its 285,000 square feet of tunnels provide a much-needed service to the fine wine trade. A humidity control system assures near perfect conditions for the long-term storage of fine wines, and it also offers a 360-degree photography of customers’ bottles.
Linking each of these unique fine wine storage sites is LCB’s trunking service which is run entirely in-house. This delivery system connects the fine wine storage to LCB’s regional transport hubs around the UK, as well as its other sites, allowing customers to benefit from trading stock internally without incurring expensive delivery charges.
Which allows you to concentrate on what to add to your collection next. 
