Your fine wine collection is not an expense, it is an investment.
If you are already building a fine wine portfolio, you might have several reasons for doing so. Perhaps you are motivated by wealth protection, by family transmission, or simply by the prospect of drinking exceptionally well in time. Whatever the motivation, choosing bottles that will shape moments in your future, or for a future generation, matters.
The worth of wine
According to wealth management experts, collectibles – art, vintage cars, watches, jewellery, and wines – typically make up 5 percent of a family estate, of which an average 2 percent should be dedicated to fine wines. While this figure offers a good guideline, we like to think that the resulting “investment” goes well beyond a number.
Thanks to an unprecedented era of fine wine price rises over the last decade, wine has received a great deal of press as a “performer”, especially in tougher times for financial markets. While this is entirely true (and reinforces wine’s power for diversification and downside protection), it has also applied a biased focus on wine’s pure financial worth. “The asset” is reduced to a set of transactional events; a commoditised comestible.
Returns on life
Yet when we visit a winery, we take in the journey from vine to winemaking cellar, to ageing vault, to tasting room, exploring the years of work that culminate in an unforgettable sensory experience. These memories stay with us for years, even decades later, when we open the same bottle again, and (if stored properly) it has blossomed.
Those who invest their time and energy in understanding the exceptional wines of today quickly learn that their value surpasses any financial gains they will generate. Wine is transversal – it relies on the elements, on the great efforts of man (or woman) to craft something thanks to (or in spite of) mother nature. It demands concentration, patience, and respect. It tells a story worth listening to.
Fine wines create meaning out of the 2 percent.