“The Louvre of wine” – a.k.a. the marvelous cellar that holds the collection of Michel-Jack Chasseuil
Paulo Pinto
Alti Wine Exchange founding member
Dear reader,
I take a great interest in wine and money – and have spent the last three years working on this innovative project of a fine wine exchange as a way to bridge these passions.
Alti Wine Exchange is now an e-commerce platform that allows people to buy and invest in fine and rare wines as if it was stock investment. Except… it isn’t.
I call it crisis investing: basically buying a rare wine, keeping it in the best conditions in bond, with the intention to sell it at a later stage for a much higher price – because that same wine is age-worthy and has become even more rare.
Few people have made their fortunes this way, but indeed have – and anyone can do it.
French collector Michel-Jack Chasseuil is probably the most famous one. His collection is worth billions. Chinese are said to have offered an undisclosed amount of money – really a lot, I suppose -, but wine has been his passion for the last 50 years and he would not let his precious achievements of a lifetime go away just like that.
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What enables prosperity? Why do some excel while others with equal talent fail to achieve their potential?
Persistence comes first.
Michel-Jack Chasseuil has been diligently curating his private collection, some 40.000 bottles of the greatest vintages on the planet – one of the biggest in the world, that he likes to call the “Louvre of Wine” and which the Prince of Monaco called one of the seven wonders of the world.
Chasseuil holds some beloved Pétrus Pomerol bottles in his cellar (credit: Facebook/M.J. Chasseuil)
What roles do education, culture, and government play in enabling individuals and groups to live fulfilled and prosperous lives?
Not sure Michel-Jack is originally from a modest background – having started as a boilermaker at Daussault and risen through the ranks as an industrial designer to selling airplanes. He has been passionate about wine and has devoured his wages in buying bottles.
So being driven, willing to learn and committed is essential. Money is never an issue.
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So how do you structure society so that it brings out the best in people?
Are you bothered at all with this? I am, and that is the reason I have been talking here about the need for a new monetary system.
Going back to my other passion: money. If you read earlier articles I have been writing here, you will recall I have been alarmed by the fact that interest rates are now zero or below zero in western countries, and in particular in Europe.
When interest rates are negative, it costs nothing to carry debt. And with the excuse of the coronavirus, countries will keep building debt without having to worry with debt service costs, for a while, maybe a long while.
This will end up inevitably with devaluation of money and inflation. Gold is at new record highs against all currencies and this is catching people’s attention like a wake-up call.
Watch out for more volatility if you are an investor. If you are a saver, you will look for something with less volatility, like rare wine. That is why I believe that, probably more important than investing in wine companies, is to invest in the very unique and rare wines that already exist.
Most important: be persistent in the face of any potential shocks and crises. Be patient, committed and willing to learn even when motivation seems to fade.
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Talking about fine and rare wines, we at Alti Wine Exchange have been working very hard on something special: our next IBO (Initial Bottle Offering). It is about a very rare Moscatel from 1919. It is more than just a wine: it is a collector’s item. Very soon we will have an exclusive page for it so you can add yourself to the waiting list.
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