Missing Wine, Expensive Lawsuits, a State Liquor Authority Probe and a Basement at TGI Fridays: What We Know About the Decline of Chelsea Wine Storage
A wine storage company based out of New York, Chelsea Wine Co., is facing an investigation from the New York State Liquor Authority. (Photo: Hannah Wagner/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Things are escalating quickly for Chelsea Wine Storage. On Thursday, the New York Post reported that the wine shop was being investigated by the New York State Liquor Authority. Just three days earlier, patrons accused the fine wine storage facility of ghosting its customer base.
In early October, a wine importer named Lyle Fass began to worry when he submitted a request to have three cases of wine delivered yet never heard anything from Chelsea Wine Storage. He went to the storage facility’s location at Chelsea Market and found out the company had relocated. It was the first he had heard of this.
Eventually, Chelsea Wine Storage got back to him and claimed they had “paused operations” due to staffing issues. Fass ultimately got his wine three weeks later, but only after he enlisted outside help from a wine storage company called Domaine. Fass appears to be one of the lucky customers.
“With no response, I am afraid my wines in storage are gone for good,” a customer Yelped in October, according to The Post.
Customers’ hackles were raised when they found out their wines had been moved from the company’s former location to a basement of an abandoned TGI Friday’s in Times Square.
When Fass saw the photos of Chelsea Wine Storage Co.’s new location, he expressed his thoughts to The Post:
“It looks like a hoarding situation.”
The company’s current reported storage situation could be particularly distressing for individuals storing fine wines.
It was reported that a rare vintage of a 2011 Coche-Dury Meursault, a white burgundy that can fetch prices of $1,200 a bottle, was found underneath the TGI Friday’s. Fine wines require temperature-controlled facilities, minimal — if any — exposure to light, and proper storage to remain in tip-top condition.
The Post confirmed through a spokesperson from the New York State Liquor Authority that Chelsea Wine Storage was in the midst of “an active investigation.”
Chelsea Wine Storage is currently under the ownership of The Gancarz family. Amelia Gancarz is the daughter of Chelsea Wine Storage and Chelsea Wine Co.’s founder, Daniel Berteluce. In the 1990s, Berteluce founded the wine shop with Donald Kurt, a television producer who worked on the FX show “Justified.”
Kurt parted ways with Berteluce in 2015 and eventually sued him, alleging Berteluce tried to swindle him out of a $330,000 loan. Berteluce’s daughter, Amelia Gancarz is currently listed as the owner with her husband, Michael Gancarz.
Several companies have filed lawsuits against Chelsea Wine Storage, one of which is Grand Cru, a wine broker. Grand Cru alleges that it purchased $349,000 of Burgundy and never received its wines. The Gancarzes refunded the company $165,000 and claimed they never had the wines in the first place. Yet, Grand Cru claims the business still owes them $184,000 with an additional 12% interest.
Chelsea Wine Storage’s landlord, Delshah Capital, filed a complaint against Chelsea Wine Storage over unpaid rent, yet Chelsea Wine Storage claims its landlords are the problem. In an email sent to customers over the weekend which was reported by The Post, the wine company wrote:
“We wanted to write a quick note to assure everyone that your wine collections are being stored properly and our facility is being correctly maintained. Although we are experiencing some staffing issues at the moment, we will do our best to respond to your inquiries and requests in a timely fashion,” the company additionally claimed it was “having problems with [its] landlord, Delshah Capital for over a year now and he owes us over $1 mil in reimbursement funds and is causing a lot of issues.”
This situation echos the saga of the nearly 100-year-old New York wine institution, Sherry-Lehmann. In May, The New York Times penned a piece reporting that the shop allegedly failed to deliver almost $1 million worth of wine. The latest development took place in August when the shop was raided by the FBI and the NYPD.
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