Wine as an investment

[MitchT]

I was sniffing around the food market at Harvey Nichols in Leeds yesterday and noticed a pottle of Petrus in the wine section for £4,100. This seemed a tad expensive and I wondered just how much wine knowledge I would have to have to gain £4,100 of value from a bottle of wine. Would it really be so much better than a £10-£20 bottle of wine as to justify spending so much extra, even if one was sufficiently knowledgeable as to be able to appreciate the difference?

Then I thought some more...

If Petrus really is so good as to justify a £4,100 price tag it's probably because it's not just a great wine, but also quite rare and very sought after. And then I started to wonder if, in fact, I'd be better off having a bottle of Petrus tucked-away at home than £4,100 sitting in an ISA.

Does anyone here buy wine as an investment, and how can you pick a good wine to invest in? And how on earth does one resist the temptation to drink it?

Edited by MitchT on Sunday 25th November 13:39

[Big Al.]

Try this thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[markomah]

The investment guide on Decanter.com isn't bad either.

http://www.decanter.com/specials/104729.html

If you are buying wine for investment, you'll need to store it properly (usually one of the big wine storage warehouses, like Octavian or similar) - a wine merchant or an auction house will be reluctant to sell something that's been stored at the back of your hotpress or nestled into your sockdrawer.

Personally, I'm buying wines for personal consumption now rather than with a view to future gains. Bordeaux prices are at a level where there doesn't seem to me to be a lot of room for upwards movement but plenty of scope for a 'correction'...

Edited by markomah on Monday 26th November 15:13