By picking a wine that you like, if the anticipated profit fails to materialise, you will at least have something rewarding to drink, advises wine critic Mary Dowey
Wine seduces investors with dangerous ease. Recent reports indicate that the best 1982 Bordeaux outstripped every other form of investment, including the stock market, gilts and gold. 1982 Chateau Latour, for example, costing around £240 sterling (€304.80) a case on release, sold recently for over £5,000 - a magnificent return. With up to 20 years of life still ahead of them, these wines could still be a smart buy.
But they are the exception - the very rare exception. Even for experts, wine investment is fraught with hazards. For amateurs, it is a danger zone littered with the corpses of normally sane people who have entrusted large sums of money to shady companies whose brochures make shockingly dishonest promises. "People are still being sucked in," says Peter Dunne, managing director of Dublin wine merchants, Mitchell & Son. "I spoke to somebody yesterday who had invested €4,000 in wine which is worth €200. Almost invariably, those who get caught are people who don't drink." It helps to be a dedicated wine lover.
You will have a better chance of doing your homework thoroughly - choosing a property with an excellent track record in a good vintage. Pick a wine that you like and, if the anticipated profit fails to materialise, you will at least have something rewarding to drink.
It makes sense to buy at least two cases of any wine - one to drink and the other to sell. Better to buy a small quantity of outstanding wine than a larger amount of good wine. "If you really want to make money, stay with the Bordeaux first-growths, Chateaux Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and Mouton-Rothschild," advises Richard O'Mahony, a wine specialist with Sothebys in London. "Or the headline-makers in Burgundy, like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Coche-Dury and Lafon." Cult wines like Le Pin in Bordeaux, Pingus in Spain, Screaming Eagle in California or Shadowfax in Australia may already be too expensive to make financial sense.
In the hope of securing wines which may later be in short supply at keen prices, many buy en primeur - wine futures, in effect. The customer pays upfront for wine which is not yet bottled. Anybody tempted should first study a cross-section of vintage reports and then buy through a reputable wine merchant - one who can advise, and who is likely still to be around when your wine is delivered in two years' time. In Dublin, Mitchell & Son, Berry Bros and Searsons all have blue-chip en primeur experience.
The next task is to protect your wine's potential longevity by ensuring that it is correctly stored - at an even temperature in a cool, dark place with no vibrations. It may be worth paying a wine merchant to cellar a precious purchase: expect to pay about €1 per bottle per year. One of the risks of buying older wines is the difficulty of knowing how they have been stored. Poor conditions can cause dramatic deterioration.
Last word of advice: keep an eye on how your wine is evolving and sell it (or drink it) before it goes downhill. Wine is being made for earlier enjoyment these days. Even the best may not last for many decades as it once did.
