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By: Ellen Cans
Sherry-Lehmann’s wine storage customers are panic stricken following rumors that their valuable vintages may have been kept in an office building in the suburbs and not a temperature-controlled warehouse.
As reported by the NY Post, the iconic New York City fine wine and spirits retailer, which has been ailing, also has its storage customers concerned. Customers are worried that their wines may be stolen, amid accusations that the company may have been reselling pricey wines owned by customers to other buyers. The customers are also worried that the vintages may be damaged, if they were not stored at the proper temperature of 55 degrees.
One anxious storage client had kept two cases of 1982 Petrus Bordeaux there, which he had purchased from the retailer some four decades ago, now valued at roughly $90,000. He told the Post, he’s glad the Wine Caves storage facility in Pearl River, NY, was raided by the feds. “I want to know what they found in Pearl River and whether someone was paying the electric bill,” the customer said, wishing not to be named. “I had assumed that my wine was being stored beautifully, never moved and kept at the right temperature,” the customer said. “If these guys were looking for the best stuff to steal, they would have stolen my wine.”
The luxury wine retailer, established in 1934 and located at 505 Park Avenue at 59th Street, began showing trouble signs in Dec 2022, when lawsuits came in accusing it of failing to deliver orders received. The retailer had then argued that there were some supply issues but that the lawsuits lacked merit because it was offering customers their money back. Matters escalated with the company allegedly owing millions in undelivered wines to customers as well as being delinquent on $2.8 million in taxes. The company also reportedly owes its Park Avenue landlord $3.6 million in back rent, as per a Wine Spectator report. In March, the retailer was shuttered by order of the state liquor authority, which said the liquor license expired in February and wasn’t renewed. On July 18, feds raided the shuttered Park Avenue store and the office building in Pearl River — where insiders say Sherry-Lehmann’s owners moved their Wine Caves storage business, as per the Post.
The wine store’s customers have been anxiously awaiting information and demanding to get back their stored collectables, worth millions of dollars in total. Sherry Lehmann owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green have not been responsive, and their own lawyers told the Post that even they have been unsuccessful in reaching the owners.
Just weeks before the raid, Sherry-Lehmann was reportedly trying to placate its best clients, many of whom had only heard of the financial problems from news reports. One storage client told the Post that a rep had contacted him on June 2, telling him his wine would be delivered to his home within three weeks. The rep, Anna Ng, had called him from a blocked number explaining that she was working remotely. The customer told the Post that he never heard from her again, and his wine never arrived. Since then, all the phone numbers associated with the business and the website were taken down. The customer said he was disconcerted further when he received a storage bill from Wine Caves on June 26, asking him to wire his payment to a Chase bank account, instead of sending a check as usual.
