Dear reader, what’s up?
I’m Breno, back with an important reminder: wine is a passion, but fine wine is a great investment.
For you who has been investing in fine wine or thinking of doing so, nothing better than to ensure safety and the right calls in the process.
After all, if you’ve already read our Sour Grapes post, you’re wise to be careful instead of rushing all out into such an important investment decision!
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How to safely invest in fine and rare wines
When it comes to investing in fine and rare wine, safety is crucial to build confidence in going ahead. We are not going to lie to you: yes, it is important to be aware of the possibility incidence of fraud, scams regarding provenance, and unclear previous storing conditions.
You should be aware of, for instance:
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Cold callers selling regular wines claiming they are top-of-the-crop and age-worthy vintages.
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So-called ‘joint exclusive offers for rare vintages to buy only this weekend’ that arrive in your email box from unknown websites.
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Auctions of relatively unknown wines for high prices.
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Poorly stored wines sold as if they had been properly preserved.
Read and learn (first and foremost!)
Seems a bit simplistic, but yes – no rushing into a purchase that seemed good. This is an investment, so act carefully as you would with any other investment.
Research the wine / vintage you intend to invest in and eventually even look for wines you already know or that are similar to ones you are familiarized with. Here you can understand what makes a wine be classified as fine and rare.
Knowing that you do hold a bottle that is age-worthy is crucial. No wine can be held for the long term to appreciate unless it maintains quality or improves with time.
That’s why avoiding cold calls is essential too, making sure you know the provenance of your product beforehand.
Patience
An important tip that we have already mentioned but which is nonetheles crucial: take it easy.
Avoid building your wine portfolio at once. Wait for the right opportunity to get the price you determine to be the best possible at the moment.
Seek to identify opportunities guaranteed by retailers that are proven to work with age-worthy wines, with ensured provenance.
If your approach with fine wine is one of more pragmatism than passion, go for monthly investments.
A simple and safe way to invest in fine wine
Reaching out directly to producers is always a safe way to ensure provenance, but it’s quite rare that larger winemakers will sell limited amounts of their bottles to single consumers. That’s why it’s a wise idea of enjoying the help of who deals directly with the best producers.
We at Alti Wine Exchange source wines straight from world-renowned producers, always providing the best prices in the market (and even below) and offering as much information as possible regarding our initial bottle offerings and Wine Club exclusive new offers.
We unite simplicity and the maximum transparency in wine investment to provide investors with the best possible vintages with less concerns about being misled. This is how – quick and simple:
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For both our initial bottle offerings (IBOs) and Wine Club offers, by working directly with producers, we provide full disclosure about the wines, their stock and its allocation for Alti Wine Exchange.
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We provide the value of any given wine available at any time on marketplace, preventing mis-selling from cold callers. More importantly, each of these wines already has a retail market price for reference in the consumer market.
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We also provide full verifiable control over supply chain – including handling for the product being acquired for the fund or the portfolio.
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Our trades are done with blockchain technology, which guarantees ownership of the wines as digital tokens. One should buy the token associated with the wine to become its owner. 1 token = 1 bottle, without even needing to reclaim the bottle in order to have it safely stored under his/her name. And although blockchain is frequently associated with cryptocurrencies, we do not accept nor trade with them.
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The wines listed on our platform are sent from producers to a bonded warehouse (the Bordeaux City Bond), being stored in the best possible conditions, under minimum maintenance costs (that are presented and explained to all investors). You only pay the applicable VAT and customs fees if you decide to redeem your bottles for private possession.
Any other doubts on what we do? Check our FAQ. And here are the wines currently available for direct investment on our marketplace.
Investing in fine wine doesn’t have to be so complex. Be sure you follow these tips and you’re good!
Until next time!