Collectible Investments for the High Net Worth Investor

Chapter Wine: An Alternative Investment

Introduction

At first sight, wine has many attractions as a possible alternative investment.^[1]

¹Note: This chapter is an introduction to the following previously published one, “Bordeaux Wine Vintage Quality and the Weather,” by Orley Ashenfelter, David Ashmore, and Robert LaLonde.

As a wine gets older, it naturally gets rarer, potentially fueling rising prices through contracting supply. Of course, this process has its limits because every wine eventually goes over the hill, but for the finest wines this might not be until they are 80-plus years old or, in the case of top sauternes and ports, over a century. For example, a single case of Cheval Blanc 1947 was sold at Christie's in 2007, 60 years on, ...