According to some recent news, wine has outperformed the stock market over the last decade – to the tune of an 11% average annual return.  Additionally, the market has matured greatly over the last few years and it has its own index, the Liv-Ex 100.  Unfortunately, despite the claims of the Liv-Ex, it is heavily biased towards French wine (in Jan ’09 – Bordeaux – Red = 91.33%; Bordeaux – White = 1.04%; Burgundy = 3.49%; Champagne = 3.32%; Rhone = 0.19%; and Italy = 0.63%) and does not deal with en primeur prices.  Therefore, it only includes the most expensive and widely held wines (plus, the focus on France means that it deals mainly with established wineries that have established followings of dealers and collectors).  Finally, to access the data, you have to pay and it is not cheap … lowest level of membership for management of a cellar is £49.95 per year.

Then again, investing in liquid assets (not just wine, but also whisky) is not as easy as investing in many other forms.  It has some drawbacks: Read more »