Investing in Wine

RATM

Interesting article on wine investments in the Irish Times today.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2010/0906/1224278285278.html

And this index of 100 of the worlds finest wines shows it has grown by about 33% year on year.
http://www.liv-ex.com/pages/static_page.jsp?pageId=100

Any thoughts? Guessing demand from Asia can only grow from here on in as more join the ranks of the middle class ?

opus

Interesting article. How does one go about investing I wonder, is there an ETF like vehicle or do you have to purchase a few cases that one of those companies stores in a warehouse for you?

losthorizon

opus wrote: »

Interesting article. How does one go about investing I wonder, is there an ETF like vehicle or do you have to purchase a few cases that one of those companies stores in a warehouse for you?

This is wierd! About two months ago I got a phone call from a company in England asking would I like to invest in wine. They said they would store it in London in a warehouse and sell it on at a profit in about five years time. They were hazy about taxes etc. They rang me up on two different days and it was two different gentlemen. I asked for some documentation which they never sent (I had no intention of investing). They were ringing from Britain. A crowd of gangsters I would say. I have some shars so I just assume they got me name off the list of share holder. I also happen to like wine. But, I wouldn't know enough to invest in wine.

RATM

Its an interesting proposition. I'd see it from a supply/demand point of view. The French wine industry is highly regulated so production in limited- for example Champagne has to be made in Champagne to be given the name. Other regions such as Bordeaux also have strict production rules which makes it near on impossible for new entrants to establish new vineyards.

Demand for champagne can only rise globally as millions of Chinese, Indians, Brazilians, etc join the middle classes. There are now 345,000 US$ millionaires in China alone according to recent stats. Good vintage wines will become more in demand but the supply of them is finite. Opportunity. But how to harness?

Bonded warehouses in Ireland anyone?

hmmm

Is investable wine regarded as an antique or a commodity?

jonnybravo

Know nothing about wine but I know that Fosters in Australia has lost a fortune on a wine business it bought a few years ago and has to write off billions of its investment. In New Zealand there's alot of wineries closing down because there is an over supply of wine in the market at the moment. Just something to bear in mind if investing.


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-24/foster-s-posts-loss-as-writedown-on-wine-unit-widens.html

Jim2007

RATM wrote: »

Any thoughts? Guessing demand from Asia can only grow from here on in as more join the ranks of the middle class ?

One is reminded of the great tulip bubble - beware of investing in anything that does have an intrinsic value in itself......

Good luck with that,

Jim

rinnin

RATM wrote: »

Interesting article on wine investments in the Irish Times today.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2010/0906/1224278285278.html

And this index of 100 of the worlds finest wines shows it has grown by about 33% year on year.
http://www.liv-ex.com/pages/static_page.jsp?pageId=100

Any thoughts? Guessing demand from Asia can only grow from here on in as more join the ranks of the middle class ?

I saw an ad in the Sunday Times back in 1996 or thereabouts about investing in wine. It was a european based company (cant remember what country, ? Switzerland / Sweden / Luxembourg ? ). Anyway they were called Vintage Wines Ltd. they had a bonded warehouse in the UK I think (a long time ago, sorry) and the only thing I remember was that I bought a case of Chateau Haut Chantelys wine (a medoc) for about IR£950. Got all certificates etc in the post and all seemed legit.
Held it for about a year with the odd phone call every few months to update me on it & see if I wanted to buy any more. Anyway decided to sell a year later and they were worth about IR1250 or so. Tax free. Just a few small fees here & there. About a 30% profit in a year. Feckin happy days! I might have just been lucky but it was as risk I took and worked out well. Dunno how things would fare in these times.
Not sure if I'd be as brave again to do it.
I dunno whether to take my savings out of BOI and An Post savings certificates & go with RaboBank. Seems like nowhere is safe these days. Feckin hide it under my mattress might be the best option.