Fine Wine Sales Up Again

Even though prices of fine wines is down from the same time last year, the sales rate is actually up. Major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christies are surpassing their expected sales numbers on a regular basis. It also appears that more folks are showing up at the auctions than expected. This, I think, is probably a result of those oenophiles with some cash to burn using fine wine as an investment.

Sure it's amazing to drink a Bordeaux aged to perfection, but it can also be profitable to by a relatively young wine (by auction standards, anyway), then to sell it at a profit years down the line. It's a long-term investment strategy that more and more people seem to be taking to heart. I for one wish that I had the type of funds to make these sort of investments, but then again . . . I'd probably cave in and drink some of these bottles before I sold them anyway. Reuters has an excellent story on the trend which can be found here.

From Reuters:

Lower wine prices have brought out the buyers. Sotheby's auction on Saturday fetched more than $2.9 million, above its presale estimate of $1.8 million to $2.6 million. Two weeks earlier, Chicago's Hart Davis Hart's sale brought in just under $2.7 million, also surpassing its presale estimates of up to $2.4 million. "What I look for are fair market values for wine," Beardsall said, adding that lower prices are a good time to buy younger vintages. Beardsall has more than 200 lots from one client going under the hammer in the Christie's sale. She said her client, whom she described only as a wealthy New York family that has been collecting for more than 20 years, is entertaining less.