Investing in wine.

green_man

Anyone done it?

In getting cold called by a company trying to sell me some 'investment grade, premium wine'

I am not particularly considering this, but wondered if anyone here had and whether this whole industry is legitimate or not. Did a search but was suprised to find no threads.

Nebulous2

There are legitimate ways to make money from investing in quality wine. The best way, like investing in many things, is to be an expert in wine and know what you are doing.

Then there are lots and lots of spectacularly bad ways to invest in wine. I'm old enough to remember some huge scams in wine where people lost far more than they could afford to.

What you have described sounds more like the latter version to me. I suppose if you are struggling to find a new way to part people from their money, then dusting down an old idea and reusing it might well work.

I cannot think of anything, nevermind an investment, which I would buy from a cold call.

rizla_king

green_man wrote: »

In getting cold called

usually a scam

Aretnap

Apart from the fact that the whole field is rotten with scams (ie cold callers who buy bottles of plonk from Majestic, tell gullible people that their value is about to rocket, and sell them to said gullible people for £100/bottle), investing in wine has the same basic problem as investing in precious metals, or commodities generally, or stamps, or Lego, or art. it has no yield, it earns no interest, it produces no income, it has no capacity to grow or to generate more wealth (in fact it costs you money just to store it) - so your hope for a return is based entirely on the hope that in years to come people will desire it more than they do today. Maybe they will, maybe they won't - you're pretty much at the mercy of changes in fashion.

That said a few people do manage to make money from it through a detailed understanding of the wine market, an eye for a bargain and a knack for predicting what types of wine will be fashionable in a few years time. However, if you have that level of knowledge, you probably don't need a cold caller to tell you what to buy. And if you don't have it, you're probably better off buying some nice wine and drinking it for "research purposes" while you build up your knowledge.

brasso

green_man wrote: »

Anyone done it?

In getting cold called by a company trying to sell me some 'investment grade, premium wine'

I am not particularly considering this, but wondered if anyone here had and whether this whole industry is legitimate or not. Did a search but was suprised to find no threads.

Two things:

1) There are several threads here on wine investment. I've contributed to plenty.

2) Listen to me. DON'T DO IT.

Sorry if this sounds pompous, but I know quite a lot about wine and
wine investment. Worked in the trade for several years, and have spent quite a lot of money over the years on the stuff. I've also bought plenty of "investment grade, premium wine" on the back of my knowledge, some of which I've resold at a decent profit, but much of which has never realised the gains that I, and many experts expected, because we didn't foresee the economic crash of 2007/8 coming exactly when it did, which meant that a huge amount of investment cash was sucked out of the market, and we didn't foresee the effects of currency fluctuations and didn't foresee the unusual run of decent vintages in Bordeaux that devalued previous vintages, and a whole host of other stuff.

The actors trying to part you from your cash on the end of the phone line not only cannot foresee any of that either, but they will undoubtedly will be trying to palm you off with lesser vintages, or persuading you to pay well over the odds for the good ones.

Never ever ever buy anything you don't understand from strangers phoning you.

If you really, really want to invest in wine, go and visit one of the good traditional wine merchants like Berry Bros or Farr Wines or FRW (Fine and Rare Wines), and talk to a real human being who knows their stuff. Not some cold caller. Please.

But best option is simply to carry on enjoying the stuff from the supermarket and leave the "investment" and terrible losses / frauds to other suckers.

You have been warned!

brasso

Aretnap wrote: »

......it has no capacity to grow or to generate more wealth.........

That's the only bit I disagree with.

Unlike gold, oil etc, good wine changes. It improves with age and (should, often does) increase in value. This is fairly easy to predict with some knowledge and some good trusted advice. The trouble comes with the external factors I alluded to -- the economy, nature, etc.

Candy0107

I was going to suggest berry brothers........ They have been going for years ......I drive past their warehouse every day !

Vectis

green_man wrote: »

In getting cold called by a company...

Surely, just the fact that you've written that statement must raise alarm bells? And, if alarm bells are ringing, I'd stay well away.

Of course, you might be one of those people who get attracted by the sound of alarms and go and investigate...if so, throw all your money at it but be aware you probably wont ever see it again.

Stevie_Palimo

I must say that seeing a profit on this is rare unless that you have a very large diverse portfolio which would by rights net a profit over time, I have some bottles but not a large amount by any means and would hope that in years to come they may well increase but if not I'll just enjoy them myself.

MEM62

Investing would be dangerous with my girlfriend around :rotfl:


I don't trust anyone that cold calls. If you want advice on wine investments take advice from someone that really know what they are talking about like Berry Bros & Rudd.

jimjames

rizla_king wrote: »

usually a scam

I think you can be more certain than that.

Being cold called about an investment is never a reputable investment. Regulated, genuine investment companies do not cold call.

green_man wrote: »

Anyone done it?
In getting cold called by a company trying to sell me some 'investment grade, premium wine.

Run away, fast. And when you get there, run away further. Cold calls for investment "opportunities" are never from regulated companies.