The Opportunity

Records going back hundreds of years show that fine wine is a particularly stable investment. Wine investment began with a few individuals buying limited amounts of cases and selling them on to friends and family.

Today it’s a well-recognised alternative to other forms of investment with its own wine indexes and funds, and an excellent addition to a diversified portfolio of instruments.

Writing in the Financial Times, John Stimpfig explains some of the market dynamics that maintain interest in fine wine investments.

“Fortunately, the market did not drown in wine last winter (2008/9). Instead, it somehow managed to soak it up, largely thanks to the sheer level of interest from Asia. Miraculously, demand there remained rock solid, effectively underpinning the market.”

The true benefits of investing in wine are well understood by people in the know. But demand has grown annually as the global community is introduced to the exclusivity and complexity of drinking fine wines, as opposed to retaining them as an investment.

As a result there is downward pressure on availability – quite simply there is increasingly less fine wine to go round.