Wine Investment Overview

Explore the exciting and lucrative world of fine wine investments with Berry Bros. & Rudd's expert guidance and advice.

Whether you would like to make a lump sum investment, build a fully-managed Bordeaux Wine Portfolio or would like to lay down wine on a regular basis for drinking, Berrys' Fine Wine Department offers unrivalled expertise backed by over 310 years of experience in the wine trade.

Fine Wine Investment Performance in the recent decades

Investing in wine is by no means a new phenomenon. Many years before fine wine became truly global in the mid-1990s, wily buyers would often buy more than they intended to drink, selling the excess at a later date to fund new purchases. In the 1990s demand for the best wines from Bordeaux  boomed. The ‘traditional’ market for the best wines, Europe and North America, was joined by the new Far Eastern markets. 

Prices moved up and though the prices of some top Bordeaux châteaux dropped in 1998 due to the Asian economic collapse the general trend in wine prices has been up. Whilst it is difficult to find totally accurate records and therefore data, it is fair to say that the prices for the very best wines have risen by an average 15% per annum over the past 25 years, with quiet periods (e.g. 1998 to 2002) being more than balanced out by the busy ones (e.g. 2005 to 2007).

It is undeniable that the best wines have proved to be sound long term investments over the past twenty years, though it is important to remember that one has to take the long term view. Whilst the fine wine market had an exceptionally buoyant couple of years from 2005 to 2007, and Berrys’ customers who bought top end 1996 and 2000 Clarets at the right time will have done very well indeed, wine prices are not immune to economic malaise and the global financial crisis did finally bite in October 2008 and prices – notably those of the top 2005s – dropped off from their early 2007 peaks. 

That said, confidence and demand came back to the fine wine market throughout 2009 and 2010 saw the market back at full strength; demand for the top wines, notably Châteaux Lafite-Rothschild, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild, is as strong, if not stronger, that it was during the boom of 2005 – 2007. To put this in perspective, 2005 Château Lafite-Rothschild was released en-primeur in June 2006 at £3,760 per case in bond. By the summer of 2008 it was fetching just under £10,000 per case in bond. In November 2008 brave buyers could buy the same wine at just under £6,000 per case in bond. The wine was trading in January 2011 for more than £12,500 per case.

Fine Wine Performance & Financial Markets

The correlation between the financial and fine wine markets is relatively small. Whilst prices for a few wines, such as 2005 Lafite discussed above, have shown some volatility, the market as a whole has been resilient when compared with more traditional investment markets. The reason for this is relatively easy to explain: fine wine is a tangible asset, it is a luxury product that we aspire to own, consume and know more about. For many people it's much more useful than gold, and easier to enjoy than art. Interest in wine is growing at all levels. Most important is supply, which is limited; the supply of any particular vintage of, say Ch. Margaux, is constantly diminishing and in the case of younger vintages is constantly improving.

To discuss this further, please contact our Fine Wine Department.
9.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday
Tel: 44 (0) 1256 340123
Fax: 44 (0) 1256 340149
Email: Fine Wine Enquiries