Vino & Finanza

WINE & FINANCE Wine is not necessarily a collecting item only, but also a commodity. Over the last ten years the market of wine has done better than the major stock markets and commodity markets, becoming a category increasingly important for alternative investment in order to diversify the investor's portfolio. Wine is not only a passion but also a highly rewarding investment item.The Liv-ex Fine Wine Investables Index has achieved a compound annual return of almost 15 per cent over the last 20 years, much better than any of the other so-called SWAGs.Today the wine is a global market which internationalization has escalated over the past 25 years. From an investment perspective fine wine: should generate consistent returns over the long-term.Fine wine boasts several unique characteristics: it is a tangible product with good price stability and strong market demand as the supply (its production) is finite, and it improves in quality as it ages.Wines for investment proved also to be immune to spreads and sovereign debts, it is not correlated with financial markets, implying investors can experience capital gains even in periods of recessions.The kinds of fine wine used as investment are two types, namely: Grand Cru and Premier Cru. The rapid spread of wealth in China, although still involving only a slim portion of the population has greatly enlarged the ranks of consumers of fine wines and investors.In 2007 Elite Advisers launched Nobles Crus, when the Luxembourgish law authorized the creation of alternative hedge funds, it is the only open-ended fund with a monthly net asset value. At the end of the investment period, according with the agreements made with the manager at the time of subscription, it is possible to recover the amount of the redemption in cash or in bottles.Nobles Crus is a respected investment fund with a proven investment strategy. The fund has demonstrated strength and reliability, its growth and performance are a reflection of the fund managers who strongly believe that alternative and passionate investing is the way to proceed forward. Its philosophy is to invest only in fine and rare wines with commercial value, showing no signs of deterioration. Nobles Crus aims to capitalise on this trend targeting regions beyond Europe, in particularly Asia and Brazil, where the demand is bouncing back and bringing new dynamics to the market. A good vintage wine has the ability to gain value in the bottle and it can guarantee the recovery of the initial capital, and almost certainly it will increase in value. An other aspect to consider is the however, the sustainability of vineyards is very important, as well a the brand value. The super top labels, the so-called "blue-chip wine", may appreciate at 500%, but this is not the norm.Wine investors must be patient, fine wine has a quite slow moving, in some cases even up to 50 years, such as Haut-Brion 1961, or Lafite-Rothschild 1869, or Mouton-Rothschild 1945.The market keeps growing due to the booming demand from the emerging countries.The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China)countries are important consumers of wine, in newer markets, buyers tend to focus on the top-line stuff first, which explains why sales of premiers crus Bordeaux, according to the 2011 data of CIVB, China and Hong Kong take over 60% of Bordeaux' s exports. Although China is now the sixth largest consumer of wine, Italian wine do not exceed 6% of market share, compared with 43% of the French wines.