Drinking to the Future

Wine has been collected since the late 17th century by everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Not much has changed either, except the idea of wine as an investment – any suggestion that wine might be sold on for a profit, effectively creating a wine stock market, would in days gone by have made any gentleman choke on his venison. But the most important considerations for buying wine are the same as ever, namely to know what to buy, who to buy it from, when to buy it, and how much to pay for it.

The advantages of investing in wine are fairly straightforward. Wine is an easily transferable asset with an established and thriving broking and auction market. There are no limits to investing; you can put in £250 or £250,000. However for anyone wanting a serious return, £5000 would be about the minimum realistic starting point. The expected average return on an investment portfolio is in the region of 15% per annum over a five year period.

To make the most of your money, you should plan for the medium to long term. Short term investing can bring healthy profits – for example, the price of Ch. Montrose 2003 astonishingly went up by 50% in a single day – but of course it is a much more risky business. A good wine from a good vintage can present market conditions, experience an increase in price of between 50-100% before it reaches full financial and physical maturity. The crème de la crème from any top vintage may increase by considerably more than this. Indeed, Chateau Latour, from Bordeaux, which sold in 1990 at £450 a case would now fetch around £3,600, an increase of 800%.