New Money Investors Drive Up Wine Prices

Filed in archive Wine News on July 24, 2007

Wine collecting and investing is not a hobby for the average Joe or Jane. However, investors from China and Russia as well as wealthy Londoners are buying up fine wines without a second thought. For these people, there's no starting out small. They gravitate straight to the high-end selections.

From Financial Times:

Château Lafite Rothschild 1996 has been selling at £7,000 ($14,300) per case, up from £4,200 six months ago; Château Mouton Rothschild 1998 has been on the market for £2,600, up from £1,500; and Château Latour 2004 has sold for £3,200, up from £2,050.

Stephen Williams, chief executive of London merchant Antique Wine, said that while traditional wine connoisseurs typically start off drinking less expensive wines and gradually work their way up, "the new money wants to drink the top wine from the very beginning ... they don't want to build it up gradually, they suddenly want an entire cellar".

Stephen Browett, purchasing director at London merchant Farr Vintners, said it had sold 17 cases of Château Lafite 2003 over the past two weeks at £7,000 per case - double its price a year ago. "And people are still clamouring for it," he said, adding that the wine was mostly sold to UK and Asian buyers. Mr Williams is planning regular wine tastings in the new Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, which opened two weeks ago.