Wine Could Be Your Best Performing Asset

Many wine enthusiasts have discovered their wine investments are much more reliable than other types of investments, including stocks and bonds, says Rachel Kau-Taylor, Marketing Manager at Vinfolio. As part of Exclusive Resorts’ new Wine Benefits program, Club Members have access to Vinfolio’s investment team, a perk typically reserved for members of the company’s Private Client program.

“This is one of our nerdier offerings,” says Kau-Taylor. “We call it passion investing. People buy wine, store it for an extended period and sell it almost like they would stocks.” Vinfolio’s team can manage an existing portfolio or build a portfolio for Members and handle wine trades to ensure they get the best value. Many oenophiles, however, prefer to handle the trades themselves. Vinfolio’s platform store allows them to effortlessly purchase wines on vinfolio.com and sell wines on vinseller.com. “The idea is to select wines you know you won’t drink and when the value starts to increase, you post those wines for sale,” explains Kau-Taylor. And Vinfolio’s team knows when the rarest bottles are coming to market and can ensure their clients get first dibs on purchases.

An added Exclusive Resorts Member benefit is preferred pricing for access to Vinfolio’s secure, climate-controlled, earthquake-tested, and fully traceable, white glove storage service. If you do choose to store your purchases with Vinfolio, their expert team manages your collection and can track your tasting notes and access pricing data that will help you make good decisions about what and when to sell. Vinfolio’s proprietary access to crucial flow-data lies at the heart of all of its team’s decision making. A special algorithm looks at current U.S. retail listings, auction sale prices, and sales on Vinfolio’s platform to determine the current fair market value of a given wine. From there, the technology can trigger buy or sell activities to ensure a sound investment and a robust return.

Here are some tips for new investors.

• Invest in classic wine styles from regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy and northern Italy, as these traditionally perform well on the market over time.
• Futures and pre-arrivals often offer the best prices on bottles.
• French wines are some of the easiest to invest in because most bottles are already ranked according to the Classification of 1855 and other official wine classifications. 
• Serious wine collectors often focus on vintages from years when the growing conditions were ideal, but many wine experts say quality growing years are not always the best indicator of investment returns for premium bottles. 
• The Friday night barrel auction at Auction Napa Valley is like a crystal ball for those interested in collecting and buying Napa wines for investment.
• Don’t buy luxury asset wine more than five years old–older, more mature wine typically costs more.
• Keep your wine in professional storage to increase its secondary market value.
• Buy wines you can see yourself drinking—just in case their value doesn’t increase.