Wine Investment

The term 'wine investment' has become a more frequent phrase in the last 24 years since I have been in the wine trade. Wine investments are now increasingly popular as other investments have become more diffcult/volatile/risky.
 People work very hard to make wine, then ship wine all around the world to different markets. Inevitably there are many people involved in the process from the vineyard to the dining room table. Agents, importers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers all need to make a living and therefore a margin.  These roles are quite clearly defined and even with modern efforts to make wine more competitively priced and the 'direct sales' model advocated by mail order or internet companies, sometimes it can be difficult to actually make a sensible return of profit. Retailers have large overheads and an uncertain economic climate, whilst wholesalers have slimmer margins and the risk of bad debt as restaurants feel the pinch. Fuel, transport, import taxes and foreign exchange fluctuations can seriously erode margins for distributors and wholesalers.
However amongst all the problems for trading wines there have been some significant financial gains to be made in the fine wine market as wine investment. But beware like all investments there are inherent risks and occasionally peaks and troughs to endure. One immediate advantage if you do lose money with your wine investment is that you still have an asset ( even if it is at a reduced value)........and you can drink it!!!

Chateau Ausone has a very small vineyard and is a Premier Grand Cru Classe (A) in Saint Emilion. But is it a good investment?

There is an increasing amount written about wine investment such as this recent article in The Daily Telegraph. It will be interesting to see whether the fine wine market appreciates by 14% in 2013. The signs are certainly looking good at the moment.

Like any investment there are crucial aspects that need to be implemented in order to achieve the best results. One crucial aspect is genuine market advice. Which Chateau is the next big thing?
Which area is surging forward?
Which are the genuine 'good buys'?
What is the provenance of the wine?
What are sound good long term investments rather than short term spikes?

The potential gain can be significant, whilst everyone should enter any investment with their eyes wide open as there could be a  potential loss. However one significant advantage to wine investment is that the investment is a tangible physical asset rather than a paper share certificate. There is always the consolation that the wine can be enjoyed as a drink.....whether the investment improves or not!!

I have a 'wine investment portfolio' that I have mainly kept for personal enjoyment.....in a few years time I hope to share some good bottles with friends and family. In recent times I have been checking the value of the portfolio as an investment and tracking each month the value. We are riding a wave at the moment with an increase in value of 3.72% between January and February and an increase of 7.92% between January and March. This is an area that I feel I am very well placed to offer genuine advice, as I have good contacts with the Chateaux in Bordeaux via Bella Wine Tours, and I am the commercial agent for a well established negociant in Bordeaux. I should be able to get the right allocations of the right wines!

Is wine good for you?

The immaculate vineuards of Chateau Fonplegade in Saint Emilion.

There have been several articles about wine and health recently in the UK press. With the Chancellor of the Exchequer announcing his financial budget next week, there are bound to be increases in UK taxation. (A bottle of wine is currently taxed at £1.90 plus 20% vat in the UK).
There always seems to be a propaganda agenda for the anti binge drinking brigade just before any budget, as if to sanction the reasoning behind taxing alcohol.
But wine can be extremely good for you. There are anti oxidants and relaxants in alcohol that can act as anti depressants. The taste and flavour of wine can be delicious. Food can be enhanced by interesting wines.
And it is scientifically proven that wine contains resveratrol, an organic chemical believed to have an anti-ageing effect, by boosting activity of a protein called SIRT1.
This interesting recent article in The Daily Telegraph explains a little more about the tests. But I am not sure whether it is a good thing to live to 150 years old!!!
There have been previous articles about the health benefits for wine. But one article explained that for a positive benefit of resveratrol you would in fact need to drink 700 glasses per day, which might counter act any health benefits!!!
Why don't we just enjoy a wonderful natural unadulterated drink such as wine. There are so many flavours styles and tastes to explore. If a glass of wine relaxes you and is also good for you then that is a great side effect. I don't enjoy inept, immoral hypocritical politicians telling us what we should or should not do at the best of times, but taxing alcohol is an easy target for the negative aspects of alcohol related crime and the negative effects of hard/distilled alcohol.

2013 Bella Wine Tours

A belated Happy New Year to everyone. ....I am not sure when it is still respectable to wish 'Happy New Year'!

The majestic Chateau Marguax on a sunny day last summer.

The end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 have been extremely busy on the work front. Bella Wine Tours has received many requests for wine tours in Bordeaux for this year. As we reply to each and every customer individually and try to listen to their requests it does take quite some time to organise tailor made wine tours. But we are determined to maintain top standards, so that we can build a strong business renowned for quality and service. We have enjoyed some very pleasant reviews from Trip Advisor.
A few comments from guests in 2012:

 'Hamish is the perfect guide to help you explore Bordeaux' amazing Chateaux. Hamish opened doors to Chateaux that were off the tourist path and even arranged for us to spend the night at one.'

 'What a tremendous experience we had with Hamish over a two-day period of Chateau tours and tastes. Hamish (your guide) will bestow an enormous amount of wine knowledge on your during your tours with him.

From the start he was quick to respond to our very last minute request for tours and quickly put together a stellar itinerary for my wife and me. We spent two full days with Hamish starting in the mornings, a unique lunch each day followed by more tours and tastings in the afternoon. Each Chateau clearly had a mutual respect for Hamish and we felt very welcome at each one we visited.

Hamish's knowledge of wine far exceeds any tour we have ever been on...and we have toured 7 different wine regions in addition to Bordeaux. You will walk away with an understanding of the region that is one of the most difficult to understand. As a plus for us...he speaks English and French with English being his primary language making the tour very easy to follow.

Hamish was also quick to help us book the hotel, dinners, etc! Overall a wonderful wine experience in Bordeaux that we would highly recommend to all!'

The delightful Violaine explaining biodynamics in the vineyards at Chateau Pontet Canet in Pauillac.

So what are the plans for 2013? We will be responding to enquiries on an individual basis. We will make the visit to Bordeaux a memorable experience. We are aware that many people want to have a genuine experience rather than a top 'white tablecloth' dining experience, therefore we will arrange more winemaker dinners and find more rustic, rural and charming restaurants.
We will also be organising some group tours to some of the First Growth estates. These wine tours will be top quality and run over 4 days. These are planned for May, June, September and October. Please email hamish@bellawines.co.uk for more information.

Bordeaux Harvest 2012 updates

I have been travelling and tasting at many different Chateaux in Bordeaux over the last few weeks. The red grapes have all been harvested and are either fermenting or being transfered to oak barrels. The dry whites were picked quite early in order to maintain the freshness, whilst the sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac have had a difficult time.
I was at Chateau d'Yquem on Friday and met one of the technical team Sandrine Garbay. The rain that arrived in Bordeaux in October has effected the grapes in Sauternes badly. The normal 'tri' harvest when the pickers go through the vineyards several times has been stop/start. Much of the fruit currently on the vine (today) will be dropped on the floor.
I also saw the team from Chateau Guiraud on Friday. Xavier Planty the charismatic joint owner of Guiraud was keeping a positive frame of mind. But Guiraud had problems during the growing season with mildew (they are now fully organic, so treatments against mildew are difficult). Guiraud have picked the grapes for their excellent dry white wine 'G de Guiraud' and they have picked some botrytis grapes but not any good quantity of top quality grapes for their top wine.
Bordeaux is a difficult place to grow grapes with the Autumn rains normally at harvest time, but this 2012 vintage is looking even more precarious. It is too early to give definitive views; and ultimatley the best judgement is when we actually taste the wines in early April, but the situation in Sauternes is so bad that the top estates might not actually make any wine. Chateau d'Yquem do not produce a second wine (they make a different style of dry white called 'Y'). So the Chateau has no system of downgrading grapes to a lower tier. The decision at Yquem will be either to make wine or not. The Chateau did not release any wine in 1910,1915,1930,1951,1952,1964,1972, 1974 and 1992. Let's hope that the seemingly 20 year cycle of duff vintages has not continued into 2012!
I'll be tasting at Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pontet Canet, Grand Puy Lacoste and more in Pauillac tomorrow so I'll get more feel for what is happening and update shortly. 
Initial views are that the red crop is a significant drop in volume from 2011 and the quality in some vats is very very good. The dry whites are looking good too.

Bordeaux Harvest 2012

Ripe grapes ready to be picked at Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

The 120 pickers gather at Chateau Margaux for their instructions.

Horses being used to transfer empty crates at Chateau Pontet Canet

First sorting table (whole bunches) at Pontet Canet

Second sorting table at Pontet Canet (individual berry selection)

The 2012 grape harvest has started in Bordeaux. The growing season has been slightly topsy turvy! There was extreme cold during the winter of 2011/12, which is normally absolutely no problem when the vine is dormant. But in Pomerol it reached -16 degrees celsius for a few days and the vines suffered.

Spring was wet and gave the vines enough water to keep alive.
 The crucial flowering time at the end of May/beginning of June was very protracted due to uneven weather. The merlot vines seemed to have suffered more from coulure, which is a result of uneven flowering. The resulting bunches have become uneven and straggly.

The usual problem of mildew seemed to arrive with avengeance in 2012, due to the humidity of the Bordeaux area. Therefore Copper Sulphate was sprayed on non organic vines to prevent further outbreaks.  Some yields will be significantly lower due to problems of mildew.

Then the summer weather was full of peaks and troughs! There were spikes of extreme heat (as much as 40 degrees) as well as some rain and humid weather.
The end of August and beginning of September have been hot and dry.
Now as the grapes are ready to be harvested we have had some rain, so sorting and selection will be crucial for the berries.
I have been visiting the vineyards throughout the year and especially over July, August and September, when the grapes are changing colour and ripening.
Everything is looking OK now. Many Chateaux started to pick last week and surprisingly the Medoc (left bank = more Cabernet) is being harvested in some cases before the right bank (mainly merlot).

I'll be back in the vines next week, when I shall report back further.

Delicious aromatic grape juice during a pump over at Chateau Beychevelle. (I wish you could smell this!)

I had lunch with Philippe Blanc (MD of Chateau Beychevelle). He had started picking young merlot vines early last week, and then he had stopped.....now he will restart this week.

The crucial time will be post fermentation when we can taste the wine!

The magnificent Chateau Beychevelle. in Saint Julien.

The gardens are always colourful at Beychevelle.

Hedonism Wines, Mayfair

I had heard a few things about an interesting wine shop opening in central London, so I popped in on Friday after a tasting of 191 Cru Bourgeois wines from the 2010 vintage. My teeth were coated in tannin so I tried not to smile at anyone!
(Un)fortunately the first person I met as I entered the shop was a friend of mine called Tobias Brauweiler, who is a top sommelier. Tobias had set up the wine list at Ellenborough Park Hotel at the end of Cheltenham racecourse. Tobias showed me around the incredible shop.
If any wine lover wants to see the best of the best I would thoroughly recommend Hedonism.
If you want to see Chateau d'Yquem going back to 1811 (priced at over £100,000 per bottle!) or an uninterrupted vertical of Chateau Mouton Rothschild from 1945-2004, or Jeroboams of Chateau Lafite Rothschild then this is the place to go.
In fact their collection of large format bottles is quite staggering. I mentioned that the racks of Jeroboams, Methusalahs, Imperials and Melchiors looked like torpedoes. They even have a 27 litre bottle.(called a Primat)
The shop is owned by a Russian chap called Yevgeny Chichvarkin, who had previously been a big operator in mobile phones. Mr Chichvarkin takes a very 'hands on' approach to the shop, being there every day supervising and overseeing the shop.
The wine buyer is Alistair Viner, who ran the Harrods wine depertment for many years.

Here is a slightly blurry picture (my fault), of Tobias in the Mouton vault. You can buy the whole collection for £130,000.

The selection and quality of wines is truly amazing, but the staff and ambience are extremely warm and welcoming. There is also an oenomatic tasting machine, so you can taste iconic wines such as Chateau d'Yquem 2001 or other wines. The unusual touch of having a children's play area with Ipads sets this place apart from your average traditional wine merchant. The whole place is an alladins cave for wine lovers, but it is also a wine shop that will undoubtedly attract some wealthy international clients. I have no idea how much money Mr Chichvarkin has invested in Hedonism, but this place is the best wine shop I have ever seen. 
One other thing that I was extremely happy to see amongst all these great wines was my very own Chateau de la Riviere perched on the shelf next to Chateau Angelus, Lafite Rothschild and Latour.
I do not know where they bought the 2004 Chateau de la Riviere from (the vagaries of Bordeaux wine distribution), but it was great to see drinking wine on the shelves as well as icons.

Hedonism has been open for 5 weeks and various inquisitive people have explored the shop. It will be very interesting to see how this extreme luxury, high end wine shop performs.
Victoria Moore of the Daily Telegraph visited the shop recently and she wrote about her experience here.

Fronsac in the press.....

If you read this blog regularly or know me in the wine trade, then you will know my strong links with Chateau de la Riviere, a beautiful Chateau in the Fronsac region. This region on the Right Bank of Bordeaux has about 800 hectares under vine. The soils are limestone (on the hillside), clay and sand, which is very similar to the nearby Appelations of Pomerol and Saint Emilion. Therefore the predominant grape variety planted is Merlot, followed by Cabernet Franc, some Cabernet Sauvignon and occassionally some Malbec.
The Appelation Fronsac covers red wines, but there are also some lovely rose and white wines being produced.

Regions like Fronsac can be overlooked in the Bordeaux area. Often it is easy to talk about the very top wines of the well known areas, but some of these lesser known Appelations can offer great value for money.
Victoria Moore has written a good article about Fronsac this week in the Daily Telegraph.