Yes, you got it right.
Bet you didn’t expect to see someone paraphrasing “Love in the Time of Cholera”, a great novel by the late Gabriel García Márquez, in a post dedicated to fine wine exchange and investing in wine.
Well, as we’ve all seen, the concern with the new coronavirus, or covid-19, is bigger than we think, but well, let us think lightly of things for a moment (we’ll get back to that), shall we?
Oops. I’m sorry – I didn’t introduce myself! I’m Breno. The Alti staff brought me in to shake some things up. Please excuse me for the informality – they are the ones who come from financial backgrounds. I don’t. I’m a journalist and content producer, writing today from sunny Lisbon. I like reading, cooking, talking world politics, football, classic rock, and much more.
Well, I love wine. I do! Red, white, rosé… even blue. Give it to me and I’ll sip it. But please don’t ask me if I smell the notes of berries, understand the attack, notice a medium gold colour or if I am a connoisseur of its terroir. I’m not yet an expert, but I put a lot of effort, believe me. I went to numerous wineries and vineyards, from Chile to Argentina to Portugal to Spain to Italy. I still can’t taste it like a professional, but I’m not giving up. For now, I’m satisfied with learning a little bit every day.
Something I do know is that the new coronavirus generates extremely worrying economic repercussions around the world, and even wine producers are being terribly affected, given the lower demand and the rising difficulty in sales and distribution.
Anyway: from now on, I will be writing here to you and every now and then will bring you news on what we’re doing on wine exchange, on the wine market, investments and whatever else.
***
When talking to Paulo Pinto, our co-founder, I brought up an old issue that resurfaced in these times of coronavirus: what to do with your portfolio when markets suffer such aggressive ups and downs? “That’s the reason why we created Alti Wine Exchange”, he said. “This is probably just the beginning of more problems, so fine and rare wine exchange via blockchain means a safer alternative for people with such financial fears.”
Paulo is very concerned about the policy of Central banks: “Things still seem ‘normal’ today, but the fact is people are always caught by surprise”, he told me.
The point is: in a scenario of economic uncertainty, many people like to go for physical, tangible assets: some buy real estate, gold, or art. Well, fine wine is among the real assets and safe alternative investments you had been looking for.
It’s quite known among the very wealthy; fine wines age well and only become better with time.
It should now be well known to everybody, thanks to Alti Wine Exchange. Compare the performance of our fine wine indexes versus two key European stock indexes, before the correction of the month of march.
Fine wines make a profitable investment because they are not correlated to financial markets, and therefore avoid suffering recent losses. Simple dynamic of supply and demand. For instance: rare wines like our Very Old Port Wine ABF 1888 (our first IBO from Vallado), are fully sold out in the retail market. Potential customers in the future will look for this Port Wine at Alti Wine Exchange, paying substantially more than it was paid on the IBO. You can be one of these private sellers!
***
So, what do we do to make you a part of this trend?
We are the world’s first blockchain-based platform for wine exchange, working every day to make wine trading simple and convenient for everyone.
For producers, we provide innovative liquidity solutions with direct access to worldwide investors through our trademarked Initial Bottle Offerings: (IBOs). For investors, we offer direct access to rare wines, and at the same time take care of storage and security of their assets in Bordeaux City Bond. Still not sure about how we work? Check our FAQ!
In times when stocks may heavily drop or float, what we offer is an opportunity to add fine, rare vintages to your portfolio as great alternative assets. You don’t even have to be an expert. Just like me!