These days, clients are demanding photographs to document labels and the condition of wooden cases. A dent in the wood can lower values as much as 15 percent, O’Brien says. Octavian is in the process of building a new underground photo studio to churn out 6,000 images a month, up from about 500 in 2012. “We’ve got a different type of customer coming in the last couple of years,” he says. “They’re looking at it more from an investment angle.”
After an hour underground, I ask to be taken to the most expensive case in the vaults. “We’ll take you to the DRCs,” O’Brien says. No, he’s not talking about the Democratic Republic of Congo but Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which produces some of the most expensive Burgundies in the world. “We’ve got a huge collection!” he says. After a half-hour search for a £120,000 case of 1985 DRC, I give up. I’m freezing, and I think I need a drink.