No Inheritance Tax

Wine is held in a personal name in UK bonded storage facilities to mitigate capital gains tax (‘CGT’). This allows wine to be traded and profits aren’t levied with CGT as wine is classified as a wasting asset. However, by holding wine collections in a personal name, it’s subject to 40% UK inheritance tax (‘IHT’) irrespective of whether someone is UK domiciled or UK resident. Gibraltar has no IHT.

Most of the owners of this wine are completely unaware of their IHT exposure.

No VAT

Gibraltar doesn’t form part of the Customs Union and thus doesn’t have value-added tax (VAT). Accordingly, wine storage in Gibraltar is completely free of VAT.

Low Import Duty

Many superyachts use Gibraltar as a port to refuel due to its very low prices of fuel. Filling up a superyacht in Gibraltar typically saves owners tens of thousands of Pounds and Gibraltar is ideally located at the intersection of the Mediterranean with the Atlantic.

To take your wine out of bond in Gibraltar for personal consumption costs just 50p per litre. This makes Gibraltar an ideal location to collect fine wines.

Storage Conditions

Gibraltar has a network of 55 km of British engineered tunnels to house fine wine. The Rock itself is made of tuffeau stone, matching the cellars of Champagne. Natural wine cellars carved into solid rock are the best in the world. The tunnels’ climatic conditions are near on perfect – the average temperature being 13 to 14 degrees Celsius and average humidity of 70% -80%, with no light and no vibration.

Environmentally Friendly

The natural conditions of the caves ensure that the storage is carried out at very low cost. The benefits of our low carbon footprint are passed on to clients with our competitive charges and reuse of an existing asset.

Security

Security is paramount when storing valuable assets such as fine wine. The Rock of Gibraltar is the safest and most secure place in British military history. The Gibraltar Vault will have 24-hour security guards along with a network of cameras.

Ideally Located

Gibraltar is logistically perfect for the fine wine trade, the Western equivalent to Hong Kong. It has a deep-sea port with committed shipping transport for fine wine at competitive prices.

It also has its own modern commercial airport which has seen traffic and the number of routes increasing year after year. It’s also connected to mainland Europe, the source of the majority of the world’s fine wines.

When compared to UK storage facilities, its positioning will allow for the reduction of lead times for wine distribution to and from the US, Dubai and Hong Kong. In addition, we’ve the scalability for your wine collection to grow with the capacity for over one million cases of wine.