Wine Investing

Two days ago, our London team attended one of the wine seminars organised by the impressively knowledgeable Denis Houlès, founder of the Claret Club – an exclusive membership organisation open to those with a keen interest in wine, both as a drink and an asset class.

Wine is often overlooked as an elusive commodity, but for real connoisseurs, the very nature of the product  and its aging cycles makes it an  appealing asset class for mid-to-long term investing. Over the past decade, wine investment has persistently outperformed market indices.

As a PR agency, we feel that wine’s behaviour on the market is a great reminder of the impact of good and bad press.  For wine in particular, the opinions of one American wine critic, Robert Parker– “the million dollar nose” –  have an almost instant effect on market trends.  A good example is the 2005 Château Haut-Brion, which market price varies almost in perfect sync with Parker’s taste ratings, to the point that even a passing remark in the press (as opposed to a formal rating) can send the market price soaring.

It is safe to say that Parker’s tongue rules the wine market. This goes to show that for wine, more than for any other commodity, reputation is truly everything.