Wine Investment in South Africa - Cape Wine Academy

Table 5 above shows an even more impressive return for Château Lafite 2008, previously
mentioned. All examples pre suppose that the market value is the price the seller can
achieve, though, which is not always the case for some wines.
The interest in wine as a lifestyle commodity, with fine wine joining the luxury goods market,
and the potential profits on offer, together with greater information available to all via wine
journalists and critics has fuelled a secondary industry of its own; one of wine investment
where wine has become a traded commodity like pork bellies.
Chapter 4
Investment methods for SA investors
4.1 Types of Wine Investment
Other than buying a wine farm or winery ( or even these days shares or ownership of rows
of vines ) which are not part of the remit for this report, investment in wine consists of
buying the finished – or near finished – product and selling on for a profit. There are two
main ways of doing this;
1 Buying and trading by yourself.
Here the investor completes all parts of the chain himself. Wine is purchased either;
a) En primeur - not from the Château in the case of Bordeaux, but through an agent /
négociant and ships and trades himself.
b) Wines from elsewhere eg Italy or Spain purchased after release if available from the
producer, stored and sold on from Europe.
c) Wines from elsewhere eg Italy or Spain purchased after release if available from the
producer and shipped to SA, stored and traded.
2 Buying through a third party
d) Through a wine broker / retailer such as ‘The Reciprocal Wine Trading Co. (Pty)
Ltd.’, ‘The International Wine Company’, ’Winecellar’ or ‘Caroline’s Fine Wines’, four
established SA dealers offering retail and investment opportunities.
e) Through an Investment Company that includes wine as an asset.
f) Through a secondary trading house, such as an auction house.
g) Through an on-line auction house.
The difficulty, costs and potential profit from these methods varies. Consider each in turn;
1a) En Primeur, through an agent / merchant, ships and trades privately. The investor
pays the price set by the agent / négociant in Europe who has added their fees to
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