Concern about increasing inflation has led to a surge in the prices of fine and rare wines as investors flock to this inflation hedge.

The Liv-ex index for the fine wine market shows wine investment has remained remarkably steady in the current world situation, where other assets may be wobbling. The index has been around since 2000 and is an indicator of the fine wine investment market. The Liv-ex index itself consists of several major wine indices, including:

Fine Wine 50 (Bordeaux first growths)
Fine Wine 100 (most sought after fine wines)
Fine Wine 1000 (made up of world wine indices)

Overall, the market has been growing by one percent on average per month. Champagne and Burgundy have been outstanding at 31% and 25% growth, respectively. Champagne from the incredible 2008 vintage was particularly pursued by consumers and investors and prompted by anxieties over the supply chain.

THE WINE INVESTORS

The people investing in wine are a mixed bag. However, as a generalisation, Asia was looking for high-end branded Burgundies last year. At the same time, it was Champagne for the UK and the USA. There has also been new money coming into wine investment. Of course, some of this is due to worries about inflation, as we mentioned before. However, there have also been other more local factors like wine shortages due to frost or supply chain problems.

WINE SCAMS

Where there’s money to be made, you can bet there are also scams. And wine investment has its share. For example, auction houses selling fake trophy wines, which seems to happen more in the USA.

THE FUTURE OF WINE INVESTMENT

Wine has been a dependable investment that also performs well in a shaky stock market. There seems no reason to think that will change in the near future. Inflation and other issues driving wine investment growth seem likely to continue for some time to come.

This article contains factual information only and is not intended to be general or personal financial advice and is for educational purposes only.

Articles by Oeno Group

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