So, a ‘friend’ is selling some wine. He want rid to clear some cash. He picked these up through his other half. I’ve seen the bottles so I know they are legitimate and I trust him.

Wine in question: CHÂTEAU HAUT-BRION 1996
http://www.robersonwine.com/shop/chateau-haut-brion-1996

Web says its worth anything from £270-500.

Is it worth buying and keeping as an investment? Should I buy and sell straight away- if so, through who? Or should I just stay well clear.

Buy it.

Drink it.

Job jobbed 🙂

“Investments” of this nature rarely end up with a happy ending.

As Neal suggests if you do buy the wine, drink and enjoy.

But just do it before the 21st as some numties are predicting the worlds coming to an end then.

A good friend of mine has his own wine cellar at home, with a good selection of wines, and spirits, for regular consumption, but he also has something like 2000 bottles in bond for his retirement somewhere up North. Knowing the sort of wine he drinks, and having drunk both that and the cask strength Scotch he has, I would imagine that his investment is a pretty good one. 😀

treat your money on wine like roulette money.

and if you dont have anywhere REALLY good to keep high value wine, factor in a fair amount for conditioned storage. Otherwise no one in their right mind will pay you diddly for something you kept in the garage. I trust your mate has it in a bonded warehouse or a reputable cellar in his name?

Im a fan of “fine wine”, but just wouldnt bother with anything over €50 a bottle. Too risky IMO.

If you’re buying wine for investment, it really needs to be unopened cases and stored in Bond, as per Stoner’s comment. Mate who works for a negociant in Bordeaux turned €2K profit on 3 cases he held for two years. On the flip side, I’ve had great deals from auction houses on mixed lots (sub-case quantities).

If you purchased a few cases of this guys wine and this happened

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Dagueneau

You may be inclined to keep the wine.

I didn’t. i drank it all and toasted Didier with every bottle i opened.

Seriously

L
I
F
E

I
S

T
O

S
H
O
R
T

I do reflect however it may have been wiser to keep as the uplift in restaurants (when you can get a bottle) is eye watering. But it would have been biblically wrong to keep the wine as an investment.

[Tannoy]

STONER TO THE FORUM, PLEASE!
STONER TO THE FORUM, PLEASE!

[/Tannoy]

FWIW, I inherited a large amount of rather good wine. Sold none, drinking my way through it for special occasions! 🙂

Every time I listen to Radio 4 Money Box at least one of the articles on it is about a wine scam or scheme that has gone tits up and the terribly middle class investors have lost everything.

Just listen to some of the back catalogue and you’ll find your answer!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p2vtd

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gd4lr

etc etc.

A friend and I bought 6 bottles each at £120 per bottle. We never actually saw them – we had them transferred to the London City Bond.

We bought them after:
1) recommendation from someone in the trade
2) outrageous score from Robert Parker
3) fire sale discount.

He sold after 2 months for £1100. I sold after 6 years for £1200.

It’s all about knowing what you’re buying, the likely supply and demand, the likely drinking age and a hefty slice of luck.

Would I do it again? Probably not. Did it work for me? Absolutely – bought when cash rich, sold when cash poor.

not a bad thing to invest in if you know what you’re doing and if you buy in bond.
you won’t pay capital gains tax on it either when you do offload it.

apparently there’s money to be had in shotguns at the moment.

have you done your homework on the vintage? are you sure of the chateau and the provenance? have you done some research on resale values on that chateau?

if you can’t answer yes to those questions then don’t buy

you need to buy young and sell (still bonded) when the wines still have some maturing time, if you sell when ready to drink you won’t get full price for them – some vintages mature faster than others and some never achieve full potential,

do you still have the answers to these questions? if not then don’t buy

have you considered what other gains are available from other investment options?

do you know chinese or russian people to sell the wine to? these are the markets buying at top price

Ah, some wine tasters on STW then!
Cheers for the advice. I think i’ll stay clear.
That could buy me a lot of ale elsewhere.

Would it happen to be harryburgundy if so, stay well clear! That’s one btw.