Does anybody think it a good idea to invest in French wine?

Question

I mean buying my own store of french wine(Bordeaux, I guess) and storing it, and hopefully selling it for a good return in 7-10 years. Any pointers?

Answer 1

If you have to ask the question, my guess is that you don't know enough about the business to make a good go of it. If you like French Bordeaux's, go ahead and buy some for personal use. Then if they happen to increase greatly in value over time, sell some of them.

Answer 2

I don't think its a good investment to invest in French wine for 7-10 years. The cycle of change,like the economy and people's life styles and taste changes every 5-10 years. Its very hard to predict the price of French wine in such a long time to come. In the UK, except in investing on properties, do your investments on a short term basis.

Answer 3

I read a good article in Money magazine last year about the pros and cons of doing this (more cons than pros, that is the bottom line), called "Bottoms up analysis", lol.

here it is:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/...

basically, the returns look good, until the expenses involved are factored in. Then, not so good.

Answer 4

Well, do you have a very expensive, properly built, climate controlled, environment to store it?  Do you know anything about fine French wine?

Sounds like a very speculative idea.  Probably not a real wise investment strategy.

Answer 5

Buy firearms instead.

Answer 6

Not a bad idea, but learn a bit first. Like other asset classes wine has attracted the attention of speculators therefore the prices have been driven up by huge demand over fairly stable supply.Posssibly the best wine is Claret (as you say Bordeau), en primeur. Maybe go for the second growth Chateaux like Ch.Palmer

Also France, even Bordeau has micro climate, so some 'poor' years weather-wise can produce superb wines in certain vineyards. Buy the top names. Ch. Lafite,Latour etc. if you can afford it, but don't buy unkown or unpopular.. You don't have to store it and indeed you should'nt. If you buy from a reputable wine merchant, say Lay & Wheeler or Berry Bros & Rudd (go visit them in St.James's.) they will keep it in their cellars for a small fee (about £5 per year per case). If you keep it yourself you need a cellar at a constant temperature, and when you come to sell it tge buyer will want proof that it has been stored properly otherwise the price will be a lot lower.Some people buy wine en primeur and then immediately sell it on Ebay for a profit. The wine merchants have got wise to this and tend to restrict the amount you can buy, unless you are a long-standing customer and even then it is difficult. 7-10 years is a bit short, maybe 15-20 years is more likely.

Answer 7

You have to take great care when storing it, I have quite a few french wines, a lot of which exceed 10 years  - a number of them when uncorked taste utterly vile.

So, generally speaking, no, unless you have a very reliable cellar, I would advise against it.

That said, since nobody will no till it's opened, you may well find a mug punter who wants to buy, but the ROI isn't really going to make this any better than putting the money into a corporate bond with a mediocre credit rating.

Answer 8

Sounds ok, get some advice from a good wine merchant they know when wines peak and start to go off. They vary from wine to wine. I would keep it to a small investment as you have little knowledge on it but i guess thats up to you.