Monday 23 August 2010
Monday 16 August 2010
Encarta fine wines - Bordeaux History
Bordeaux History
Philosophers, popes and poets rhapsodised over the “Divine Nectar” Wines whose history is as old as civilisation itself. Winemaking in Bordeaux – the largest and oldest vineyard on earth – dates back to the 1st century when gauls planted grape vines on the banks of Garonne.
 The 4th Century poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius wrote of winemaking in St-Emilion, where the foundations of his villa, Chateau Ausone, Stand. Bordeaux was part of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s dowry when she wed Henry II in the 12th century. Claret-drinking increased dramatically with great quantities of wine barrels being shipped to England. In the 17th Century, the Dutch became the biggest importers of Bordeaux wines. Their Vignerons drained the marshes, prolonged fermentation and ageing, and grew more vineyards along the graves and the Medoc. Vineyards continued to spread such that a collection of “communes” the Vignoble de Bordeaux was formed. Wines began to be labelled properly, according to the region and the area in which they were grown. Emperor Napoleon III used the 1855 Exposition universelle de Paris to showcase France at her best. He ordered a classification of the best Bordeaux wines; Brokers devised a taxonomy based on the prices that the greatest wines fetched over the previous hundred years, creating the 1855 Bordeaux wine official classification. Today, as some 2,000 years ago, Bordeaux remains the most important fine wine region in the world |
Encarta fine wines - The Parker Palate
 The Parker Palate The emperor of wine cannot be ignored. On his immensely influential say so, wine markets move and shake, he has become the champion of the wine buyer. In his tasting notes on the 2005 Bordeaux, Robert Parker wrote “one thing I am sure of after 28 years of tasting Bordeaux wines every march is that 2005 cannot be compared to any previous vintage in my experience”. |
 It was, by all accounts, another Bordeaux record-breaker, with some of the best reds described as rich and opulent, with powerful Tannis and wonderful freshness. Thousands of years of wine-making traditions on the concept of terroir combine with the generally mild, Mairtime climate - warmed by the currents of the Gulf Stream – and the clement spells of long, dry weather, to give the assest class of Bordeaux wines their special, distinctly rare quality and character. Former lawyer turned critic, the American Robert M Parker, is the world authority on wine today. In 1983 he tipped Bordeaux’s 1982 vintage for greatness. A powerful player and mover in the world of fine wines, his reputation, and that of his publication, the wine advocate, remain unchallenged.. |
 Awarded the grand prix of the international academy of gastronomy - the food and drink equivalent of the Nobel Prize - Robert Parker pioneered a quality point system for rating wines, from 50-100. His scores, comments and tasting notes-on colour, flavour and finish, aroma, and bouquet, potential & quality- can make or break a vintage or a wines standing, and put an estate in utter turmoil. His ratings determine how wines will be received in the market, how they should be priced, and which wines will leap into greatness. His annual wine pilgrimage takes him to Bordeaux every spring spending three months tasting in vineyards. “When I put my nose into a glass, it’s like tunnel vision. I move into another world, where everything around me is just gone, and every bit of mental energy is focused on that wine” he said. |
Encarta fine wines - Storing Your Wines
 Fine wine for consumption or long-term investment – should be held in bond to remain free from VAT and Import duty. Proper storage of fine wines secured in specialist humidity – and temperature controlled conditions is incredibly important, to protect their integrity, provenance and traceability & to avoid damage so that value increases rather than reduces, ensuring their future saleability. Please consult your Encarta Fine Wines Specialist in helping you open a private account. Under current UK taxation rules NO TAXES are paid on capital gains as long as you do not trade the wines on a regular basis. Wine is also considered a “wasting chattel” and as such is charged to Inheritance Tax accordingly. There is no charge to Income Tax as wine is not an “income baring investment”. Encarta is committed to providing a high level of personalised service throughout the lifetime of your account. Our experts will help you source and choose the wines that represent good value, with strong capital-appreciation potential. We have considerable experience of creating a balanced, diversified portfolio of wines from the great chateaux of Bordeaux. We will share with you up to date news on how fine wines are performing in the market, our exciting new finds, surprising vintages and their special ageing qualities. Our recommendations will be tailored to your individual requirements. We are happy to discuss with you our range of services, including managing your wine portfolio. It’s an exciting market, at the heart of which are outstanding wines with great brand recognition worldwide. As interest continues to increase around the world, with newly created wealth driving demand, it’s a market set to grow in years – generations – to come. |
Encarta fine wines -Record Vintages
 Top-tier Bordeaux wines from some of the best vintages of modern times 1982,1985, 1986, 1989, 1996, 2000, among others have shown exceptional value and investment potential. A haven, said the financial times, for investors in difficult times, fine wines have outperformed traditional stock market indices in recent years. At Encarta Fine Wines, We usually recommend a holding term of anything between 5 and 10 years. Red Bordeaux have shown an incomparable history of increasing in value over time and buying into tanglible, secure assets that improves with age has shown that fine wines can, indeed be lucrative collectables. |
Encarta fine wines - Bordeaux’s Finest
Bordeaux’s Finest
Bordeaux, is a region of France located near the Atlantic coast, with the Gironde and the rivers Dordogne and Garonne running through it, is the most venerable fine-wine region in the world. It’s said that the centuries-old manor houses – Chateaux Can “see the River” from their vineyards. They helped to create the 1855 official wine classification.
Bordeaux, is a region of France located near the Atlantic coast, with the Gironde and the rivers Dordogne and Garonne running through it, is the most venerable fine-wine region in the world. It’s said that the centuries-old manor houses – Chateaux Can “see the River” from their vineyards. They helped to create the 1855 official wine classification.
| Sixty five of the most expensive wines were divided into the five classes – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th growths – and the taxonomy identified the top five chateaux: Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and mouton-rothschild. Fine Wines as an investment have many advantages over building societies, unit trusts, and equities such as: |
| • Tax Free • Portability • Low Risk • Underlying Stability • Decreasing availability against an increasing demand • Consumable • Individually Tailored • Easily Realisable |
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Encarta fine wines - The Making Of Magnificent Bordeaux Wines
 Among wine lovers and investors, a discussion of vintage is usually a reference to the magnificent wines of Bordeaux. And vintage is the distillation of the memory of the vine and its terroir. French winemakers regard as sacrosanct the concept of wines having a sense of place. Terrior is the soil on which the vines are grown, the lie of the land, altitude, the degree of slopes on a hill and the orientation to the sun. A beneficent Terrior requires a generous microclimate in which great grapes can grow when every drop of rain, ray of sunshine and humidity conspire with nature to ripen the grapes, to just the right moment when they are picked. Near the sea, amid a confluence of rivers, Bordeaux is entirely dedicated to the growing of wines and has been giving the world unequalled vintages. |
Encarta fine wines - The Exceptional Wines Of Bordeaux
Very few things in life increase in value over time, or improve with age.Works of immortal art and fine wines from the best vintage for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as for capital-growth purposes are among life’s premium collectibles. The first Rule of economics states that where an item is in limited supply, and the demand is greater than the availability, it’s value increases. In 1855 Napoleon III effectively started the “Fine Wine Index” when he classified the wines in Bordeaux from 1 to 5. He based his decisions on the quality and prices realised by each Chateaux wines over the previous 100 years or so, giving Fine Wines a pricing history as far back as 1755. On average only 4 or 5 years out of each decade rates high enough to create a wine suitable for investment. Out of over 4000 Chateaux in Bordeaux, only the top 5 or 10 reach the standards we demand. For a quality investment the wine must be from the best vintages of the top Chateaux. Records that go back over 250 years, show that Fine Wine has remained the steadiest form of investment in the world, generally unaffected by general elections, stock market fluctuations and interest rate changes.
 The first Rule of economics states that where an item is in limited supply, and the demand is greater than the availability, it’s value increases. In 1855 Napoleon III effectively started the “Fine Wine Index” when he classified the wines in Bordeaux from 1 to 5. He based his decisions on the quality and prices realised by each Chateaux wines over the previous 100 years or so, giving Fine Wines a pricing history as far back as 1755. On average only 4 or 5 years out of each decade rates high enough to create a wine suitable for investment. Out of over 4000 Chateaux in Bordeaux, only the top 5 or 10 reach the standards we demand. For a quality investment the wine must be from the best vintages of the top Chateaux. Records that go back over 250 years, show that Fine Wine has remained the steadiest form of investment in the world, generally unaffected by general elections, stock market fluctuations and interest rate changes. |
Encarta fine wines - About
Encarta was founded in 2006. When the company was formed, we believed that there was the need for a good, down to earth, friendly and helpful fine wine investment company offering a range of fine wines from Bordeaux. A sort of antidote to the increasing anonymity and sameness of the big chain stores. We have been rewarded in the enormous increase in wine investors and the resulting growth in demand for en premier first growths.
| As our business has grown, we have become better and we have been able to access more and more of the hard to come by fine wine vintages. We have been able to reward our regular and loyal customers with allocations of some of these vinous treasures. |
| We promise to remain as focused as ever on quality fine wines, interesting fine wines, and fine wines that are known throughout the world for great investments, our down to earth advice and friendly and helpful service is all that you would expect from a favourite independent wine merchant. |
| Invest in Excellence, Maximize your Returns |
Encarta fine wines - Introduction
Recent uncertainty in world economies and markets has led investors to buy into more tangible assets such as antiques and fine wine. The fine wine market shows vitality and strength in both traditional and emerging markets such as China, India and Russia. Asset managers recommend fine wine to sit alongside stocks and shares in well balanced portfolios. Over the last decade, the financial markets in the UK have proven to be extremely volatile, encouraging many speculators to look at alternative investment markets. This in-turn has lead many successful investors to diversify their portfolios and secure their futures with lower risk, higher yielding investments such as Art, Gold and Premium Fine Wine. There are a number of benefits and advantages you will experience when investing your capital into the Fine Wine Market. Unlike more traditional investments such as Property or the Stock Market, Fine Wine is a tangible asset, which will naturally appreciate in both quality and value as it ages. At Encarta we take great pride in helping our clients build the perfect investment portfolio of fine wine, one way in which we can achieve this is by only selling our clients the best highest award winning Bordeaux wines noted the world over.
Is fine wine a corking investment?
There are few perils and pitfalls you need to be aware of, but by taking some basic precautions you should stay safe:
1. Be sure the merchant/broker is reliable. A good merchant will be able to offer you advice and will not disappear with your wines. Also, check companies house and make sure you check the provenance of the wines - a record proving they have been stored correctly and are from reliable sources.
2. Wine is not a liquid asset. Transaction costs are about 10% and selling quickly can be difficult in a cautious market (hence the big drops in price of the top wines from the 2005 vintage in late 2008), so bear this in mind.
If you follow these pointers (and are happy with having your assets tied up for five to 10 years) then the long-term trend of the prices of the top 20 or so chateaux of Bordeaux is up.
No-one who bought 2000 First Growths at opening prices is regretting it...
1. Be sure the merchant/broker is reliable. A good merchant will be able to offer you advice and will not disappear with your wines. Also, check companies house and make sure you check the provenance of the wines - a record proving they have been stored correctly and are from reliable sources.
2. Wine is not a liquid asset. Transaction costs are about 10% and selling quickly can be difficult in a cautious market (hence the big drops in price of the top wines from the 2005 vintage in late 2008), so bear this in mind.
If you follow these pointers (and are happy with having your assets tied up for five to 10 years) then the long-term trend of the prices of the top 20 or so chateaux of Bordeaux is up.
No-one who bought 2000 First Growths at opening prices is regretting it...
Fine wine prices surge
European and American investors are returning to the fine wine marketplace in force; with annual returns of up to 34% it's no surprise.
March, for instance, saw the fine wine market post its best monthly result in near three years; the main index, the Liv-ex 100, increased by 5.5% and the Claret Chip rose by 6.6%. This was the twelfth straight month of increase, giving an annual return of 27.6% and 33.6% respectively.
“These are encouraging signs for the overall health of the market, and may indicate that demand from the longer established markets of Europe and the United States is beginning to return in force. The widening of the market is also giving the opportunity to stock pick instead of chasing Lafite higher,” said Andrew della Casa, director of The Wine Investment Fund.
The star performer was Chateau Lafite, with prices rising across all vintages at close to 10% during the month. Its status was seen at auction in Hong Kong when a single lot of Lafite 1996 sold for £15,000. It was available in the UK market for £10,000. Asia continued to dominate and a single-owner sale in Hong Kong achieved 100% of lots sold, with the total exceeding the high estimate. One lot of Pétrus 1998 sold for around £25,000.
“The better news for serious investors were the signs of a broadening base to the recovery in March, which saw the highest rise since May 2007,” said della Casa.
Cheval Blanc, which had previously appeared to be immune to the market recovery of the last 12-15 months, showed increases in March of 8-10% for the 1995 and 1996 vintages
Outside the very top wines there were increases of at least 5% across a range of vintages for Ducru Beaucaillou, Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Poyferré and Pichon Lalande.
The Wine Investment Fund, which was formed in 2003 for fine wine investors, invests in wines from the top 40 Bordeaux Chateaux and only buys stock that is at least four years old with an established reputation as a good vintage. This is because most wines bought at the en primeur stage tend to plateau after an initial surge in prices, making them a riskier investment than established vintages. The Liv-ex index shows that fine wines have lower volatility than equities, bonds, gold and many other asset classes.
March, for instance, saw the fine wine market post its best monthly result in near three years; the main index, the Liv-ex 100, increased by 5.5% and the Claret Chip rose by 6.6%. This was the twelfth straight month of increase, giving an annual return of 27.6% and 33.6% respectively.
“These are encouraging signs for the overall health of the market, and may indicate that demand from the longer established markets of Europe and the United States is beginning to return in force. The widening of the market is also giving the opportunity to stock pick instead of chasing Lafite higher,” said Andrew della Casa, director of The Wine Investment Fund.
The star performer was Chateau Lafite, with prices rising across all vintages at close to 10% during the month. Its status was seen at auction in Hong Kong when a single lot of Lafite 1996 sold for £15,000. It was available in the UK market for £10,000. Asia continued to dominate and a single-owner sale in Hong Kong achieved 100% of lots sold, with the total exceeding the high estimate. One lot of Pétrus 1998 sold for around £25,000.
“The better news for serious investors were the signs of a broadening base to the recovery in March, which saw the highest rise since May 2007,” said della Casa.
Cheval Blanc, which had previously appeared to be immune to the market recovery of the last 12-15 months, showed increases in March of 8-10% for the 1995 and 1996 vintages
Outside the very top wines there were increases of at least 5% across a range of vintages for Ducru Beaucaillou, Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Poyferré and Pichon Lalande.
The Wine Investment Fund, which was formed in 2003 for fine wine investors, invests in wines from the top 40 Bordeaux Chateaux and only buys stock that is at least four years old with an established reputation as a good vintage. This is because most wines bought at the en primeur stage tend to plateau after an initial surge in prices, making them a riskier investment than established vintages. The Liv-ex index shows that fine wines have lower volatility than equities, bonds, gold and many other asset classes.
FINE WINE INVESTMENT
FINE WINE INVESTMENTWelcome to our unique information for fine wine investment Why does fine wine go up in value? Fine wine matures once bottled and improves with age. A limited amount is produced every year (up to 20,000 due to French law) so when bottles are bought, the supply of the wine becomes rarer and therefore the price increases. While supply disappears, demand for mature wines can make early purchases an especially good investment. Demand and interest in fine wine investment is growing around the world and supply of the top wines cannot be increased. Fine wine investment is considered one of the best tangible assets. Do I need to know a lot about fine wine? You do not need to have much knowledge in the subject, as an fine wine investment service we will take you from beginning to end as comfortably as possible! We strongly recommend seeking advice when investing in wine as not all well-known wines are suitable for investment and so it is possible for potential investors to put funds into the wrong type of wines. Cult Wines deals only with the top 50 investment wines and has advice from financial experts and a ‘Master of Wine’ of which there are only hundreds of in the world. What are the advantages of wine over other investments? Finite Product: You are investing in a tangible, improving asset that has a limited production but a huge global demand base. The supply of this already limited asset then declines over the years as the wines are consumed. Tangible Asset: Shares that fall in value are good for nothing save for selling at a loss. Wines that do not perform financially as well as expected can be enjoyed. Tax: Your fine wine investment is exempt from duty and VAT and, in theory; profits are exempt from Capital Gains Tax. Please note that we advise you to consult a financial institution or an IFA for clarification. Performance: Wine has performed very favorably amongst the strongest investments over the past few years. Even in times of macro-economic downturn, wine tends to remain more robust than many other investments. What are the risks? Fine wine investments - It is an investment market like any other, so be aware that prices can go down as well as up. Unregulated Market - Only buy from established merchants and ensure you get the expertise needed. Investment Term - Short term gains have been possible over the past two years though your investment should be viewed as a mid to long-term one. At least five years should be considered the norm, eight to ten years being better. Wine Types - Only specific wines will tend to accrue value, and these wines tend to be expensive. Make sure that you are buying the right wines at the correct prices. What sort of wines should I invest in? Always speak to an advisor, as they can give you information as to which wines are performing best on the market at that particular time. As a rule of thumb, only ever invest in the top wines of Bordeaux and allow advice from your broker for diversifation once you have a solid foundation. You can then look at other areas for specialist fine wine investments. Whilst other parts of the world make good wines, the global secondary market has a smaller demand for these, so it is best to keep your portfolio made up of Bordeaux. `En Primeur'. What is this? En Primeur is the name given to buying wines before they are bottled (i.e. a future). This is the most common way for our clients to invest, and once the initial tasting (wine test – points scored out of 100) have been given, the risk is considerably lower and the price is still low. This leaves room for short and long term growth. These wines will be tested in April of most years, meaning the score can change and the wine price can spike. We will advice and manage your portfolio so we keep ahead of the news. Below you can see an example of En Primeur that was released this year in April called Lafite Rothschild. As you can see from the graph, once the wine was scored out of 100, the price shot up dramatically and has increased by over 100% in 6 months alone. This graph is taken from the Liv-ex, which is the wine market version of the FTSE 100.  `Example of performances within the market’ These wines below show the top 5 performances of existing vintages. These wines are called back vintages. These examples are taken from the Liv-ex, which is the wine markets version of the FTSE.  |
2009 vintage
Many of you have expressed an interest in investing in the extraordinary 2009 vintage, but found the hefty entry levels rather too rich. For all you frustrated would-be 09ers, it will be of interest that the châteaux are releasing a higher than usual number of 3 & 6-pack cases for this vintage.
Once bottled, these - like their 12 bottle siblings - will be presented in traditional wooden cases, and will be every bit as tradable and desirable in the secondary market as a standard dozen case. These smaller cases are priced on parity pro-rata to full cases (so you pay the same price per bottle), so an excellent way to join the party without breaking the bank!
Once bottled, these - like their 12 bottle siblings - will be presented in traditional wooden cases, and will be every bit as tradable and desirable in the secondary market as a standard dozen case. These smaller cases are priced on parity pro-rata to full cases (so you pay the same price per bottle), so an excellent way to join the party without breaking the bank!
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