Metro

A cork screwing

A Hurricane Sandy-damaged storage facility that’s being sued by high-rolling wine connoisseurs who want to assess damage to their pricey vintages has filed for bankruptcy.

And the West 28th Street facility’s president, Derek Limbocker, actually blamed his financial straits on those very clients, who’ve been denied access to their bottles at WineCare’s warehouse.

“We took this action because we want to have the time to reorganize without all these very, very interruptive lawsuits that cost a great deal of money,” Limbocker told The Post. “We don’t have the time to get our wine back to our clients while dealing with the nastiness of these people who are bugging us,” he said.

WineCare’s filing, submitted to New York district court on Jan. 29, lists $237,000 in assets and over $1 million in liabilities. Limbocker, who held positions at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, explained his debts include $50,000 in rent, $7,000 for a Chase credit card and almost $4,000 in New York state taxes.

A drainpipe burst during the hurricane, and 27,000 cases of wine were moved to special storage rooms higher in the building, according to court records.

Limbocker had assured clients that their precious vino was safe and operations would be back to normal by the spring. Yet he wouldn’t let their grapes escape.

Real-estate bigwig Philip Waterman III, whose court-granted inspection of his $300,000 collection was canceled, said, “This is terrible. I never asked for anything other than to just see my property.” “We have entrusted our wine, including many of our most rare and valuable bottles, to WineCare Storage for many years, and are shocked that the company is essentially holding our wine collections hostage,” McNally said in a statement. McNally’s inventory includes Bordeaux blends with eye-popping prices like a premier grand cru classé A that retails for over $700.

Restaurant bigwig Keith McNally, owner of Manhattan hot spots Balthazar and Minetta Tavern, also recently slapped WineCare with a $3 million suit. McNally alleged that his “unique” inventory of 1,500 cases of wines for two of his restaurants are bottled up at the facility.