It is with great joy that I introduce Vindome’s 2022 Fine Wine Investment Market Report. It has been a year of highs and lows, but there are a few takeaways that investors – experienced or beginners – need to know if they are going to enjoy a “fruitful” 2023.
General good news
Compared to other assets and against a background of high and rising inflation, wine investors have every reason to feel content with their portfolio performance. By the end of December 2022, fine wine prices (Liv-ex 1000) averaged over 16% growth over the last 12 months compared to a decline of over 20% for the S&P500. Even UK property and the FTSE 100 grew by only 4.6%. Equities and bonds performed very badly in 2022, the worst since 2008, despite a small boost in November. Similarly, gold did well in November, but even that is negative for the year.
The forecast for the markets in 2023 is unpredictable and not as optimistic as that for wine. Inflation appears to have peaked against the situation for fuel prices, but it remains that tangible luxury assets such as wine seem a sensible option for high-net-worth investors looking to keep and maintain a diverse portfolio.
2022 Fine Wine market performance
Of all wines traded, a marked success story in 2022 was Champagne as we emerged from the pandemic and started to celebrate and party again, demand surged while supply remained steady. The deluxe cuvées performed, as expected, the best of the Champagne 50. The continued shortage of Burgundy, as per the Burgundy 150 index, looks set to continue, due to the low yields in recent vintages, something that the 2022 harvest will not alleviate.
Investors – and drinkers – started to look to less blue-chip wine regions, notably Tuscany (up 8%) and the Rhône (up 7% in general but with some top performers rising by as much as 50%). Bordeaux has seen some significant activity. The 2019 vintage, which was not widely tasted En Primeur due to the pandemic, continues to be reassessed, with positive results. The early released and competitively priced wines have performed especially well (Pontet Canet 2019 currently (Q1 2023) trading at €130 against a release price of €58), and all the expected names have provided rich returns. The 2020s in bottle were reassessed in November, with the vintage receiving yet more praise and, from some critics, higher scores than the Primeur tastings indicated. Prices have risen accordingly. 2021 was a far less homogenous vintage, with release prices almost all lower than the release prices of 2020 and 2019, and the top performing châteaux have seen rewards for their investors. The 2022 re-classification of Saint Emilion continues to affect prices. The value of Figeac continues to climb, and the effect on the in-bottle price of this and others may offer opportunities for investors.
During challenging economic times, it remains important to consider that wine is a stable asset, with movements in value generally gradual. Vindome.net advises that to optimise results, wine ideally needs to be held as a medium to long-term investment.
Over the five-year period to end November 2022, the overall fine wine market recorded growth of over 44% growth. Vindome offers and encourages long-term storage.
Vindome out-performs the Fine Wine market
We are especially pleased to be able to report that our ready-made collections have offered our investors returns ahead even of the wine market in general.
For example, our 2018 Saint Julien Collection, up 10.6% since February 2022, the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Starter Collection, up 26.5% since January 2022, and our 2018 Conterno-Fantino
Collection up an astonishing 31.5% since only July. We have made spot offers on Latour 2010 and 2014, and Haut-Brion 2018 with an average performance of +15% (figures from WineDecider)
We will continue to offer collections, and spot offers to our customers, which we consider to offer the best possible investment opportunities.
Vindome’s 2022 Fine Wine investment market report
Please see our full report on what to expect from fine wine’s vintage 2022.
Bordeaux seems likely to have one of the good-great ‘hot’ vintages in the line of 2005, 2009, 2015 and 2018. It is unlikely to be homogenous. Drought affects different areas and plots differently, sometimes with positive heat-stress-led results and sometimes with less easy-to-handle over concentration. As usual, it will be interesting to taste the results En Primeur in April, and per normal the great properties are likely to have excelled, maximising the inevitable
concentration. For Burgundy, the scarcity is nearly certain to continue. Italy and the Rhône are happy, but these wines are for the future as they are not generally sold as Primeur futures.
We look forward to another successful year in 2023 as we help you navigate the fine wine markets in these turbulent times to maximise the safety and growth of your fine wine investment assets.