Knowing En Primeur and how to Invest!

On the recent years in Singapore, we heard of many failed wine investments, to make things worse, there are even companies closing their doors leaving investors stranded (if they are lucky) with crates of wines that they don’t even know of or losing thousands of hard-earned money.

This definitely doesn’t help improve the wine trade and also, the competitiveness in investing with wines. Having said that, i’ve told many people that wines is and will still be a good alternative investment, for a reason that you could still drink them if you choose not to sell. But first of all, just like stocks, you have to know what you’re investing and not go into it blindly.

A part of wine that differs a little from other investments is that an investor has to know the vintage chart. There are many vintage chart one could refer to, but i’ve given one example on the picture below. These vintage charts are something that most investors or even Sommeliers look at. They normally refer to a vintage (year) and the points they receive from a panel of judges, some would also include when the wine is ready to drink or the possibility of storing it in the cellar for an estimated number of years. So after talking so much, you probably would ask what a vintage chart would do to aid your wine investment? Well, many would say that the higher the points, the better the investment, that is proven, but still, the wine market is volatile and you might or might not make the return of investment that you wanted. So my point to you is, if you want to invest, learn about what you’re getting into.

Here’s a short quote that i’ve gotten from CNBC

“The biggest return, and investment, is among the Romanee-Conti wines, adds Stanley. Today, a case from 2000 sells for $97,200, about a third more than five years ago ($65,000). A vintage 2005 now sells for $174,600, some 60 percent more than its price in 2009 ($110,340).”

I’ll be leaving you with a short video from Decanter Magazine of what En-Primeur is and how one should invest. i hope you enjoy the video and all the best to you!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

*P.S. this entry is based on the blogger’s perception of wine investment.