Set Wine Investment Goals

Wine insurance is very useful if you store expensive wines in your home. We were advised to check out InsureYourWine.com by cellar management team, Cellar Advisors.

1982 Bordeaux is one of the most sought after vintages for the 2010s. Chateau Latour 1982 starts at around $1,200/bottle. Jeff Leve

What are Investment Wines?

An investment wine should have all the traits of an age-worthy wine. but it also should be in demand when it sells. The most in-demand investment wines are fine Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy. Prestige wines such as these start at $600/bottle and are offered in 6 bottle wooden boxes. When buying in this market, buy by the case and do everything you can to create a paper trail of provenance to show the wine is not fake. If you plan on investing in French wines, its importantant to make your wine easy to sell on the internationl market.

Is My Wine Worth Cellaring?

Besides wines from France, Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and tête de cuvée Champagne are also very collectible. When you buy wines from regions other than Burgundy and Bordeaux it is important to buy flagship wines successful wineries that have made a name for their respective region. While flagship wines might not appeal to your sense of discovery, they are more likely to sell 10 years down the line.

Cult Wine Collecting

In recent years, collecting US cult wines have offered great investment turnaround because of a growing international appeal. A few cult wines that have become knockout successes are:

Selling Your Wine Investment

Wine Auctions and How They Work

If youre in the US youll most likely be liquidating your wines through an auction of some kind. In a wine auction your wine is sent to the auction warehouse and then auctioned to the highest bidder. Online wines auctions act a little more like ebay than a traditional auction. There are many different auctions houses around the United States including:

• Vinofolio vinofolio.com
• Acker, Merral & Condit ackerwines.com
• K & L Wine Merchants klwines.com
• Christies www.christies.com/wine
• WineBid winebid.com
• Spectrum Wine Auctions www.spectrumwineauctions.com

When you consign your wine the auction house will take a cut of the sale. The commission ranges from about 0% (if you accept store credit) to 20% of the sale. There is also usually a minimum consignment amount anywhere from $1,000 $10,000 of wine. With online bidding, oftentimes youll have the power to either accept or decline a bid(if its under the valued mark).

The Wine Stock Market

UNITED KINGDOM ONLY There are now three wine exchanges in the UK: Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBX ), London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex ) and Cavex. The three programs focus mainly on top Bordeaux and also handle logistics. In the UK, wine investments are stored in bonded temperature controlled warehouses. Bonded wines avoid the 20% excise tax but also must remain in a warehouse until the tax is paid. These wines are very desirable to international buyers, restaurants and brokers. If you invest in these markets it is possible to never even see your wine.

Berry Bros & Rudd and Cavex are available for any consumer with a few prerequisites.

A 10 Year Example Plan: Conclusions from a Wino