There are some oddities that go on in the wine market. It is essentially a luxury product and yet millions of bottles are produced each year.One wine may be 10 times as expensive as its cousin and wine popularity can be up and down like a roller-coaster. One thing is true though, there are a lot of people making a lot of money in the wine game and now is a pretty good time to get involved.
The cost of picking up a good bottle has been rising quite quickly over the last few decades. As wineries continue to perfect their production methods and develop better storage facilities, the prices people pay for fine wines has crept up.The wine expert as Sotherby’s, Jamie Richie actually commented that “Prices had risen to nearly unsustainable levels last April”.This has changed somewhat now however, as prices are starting to come back down during the struggling economy. This year in March there was a drop in prices of around 1.2% according to Liv-Ex 100, the tracking index for the top 100 collectable wines. This is trend that experts expect to continue for while and can in fact be seen throught the wine sector, from wine production to the sales of general wine glasses.
A bottle of 1978 Montrachet Domaine Romanee-Conti recently sold at auction in Chicago for just under $4,000. The price of $23,929 was only a few years back at Sotherby’s for the same bottle of wine. This massive decrease in costs is allowing lots of people to pick up some great wines for their own personal collections or for investment, for only a fraction of previous prices. Experts think that the market will be at its lowest point by the end of the year, after which it will start to pick up again slowly.
Here are some key pieces of advice from Joss Fowler, wine investment professional from Berry Bros & Rudd. A Red Bordeaux is a pretty sound bet according to him, mainly because it very rarely ages badly. Also, play it safe and get the best wines your money can buy from the best vintages. Stay true to this rule and you’ll be filling up your little champagne glasses sooner than you think.
