Wine Investment in South Africa - Cape Wine Academy

or high price on release ). Undoubtedly, these will be top quality wines and most will be red
wines as there are few whites with the ageing capability to meet long term investment
requirements. Based on the key features mentioned, a possible and highly debatable
selection is shown in Table 19.
A very subjective list, to which could be added the wines of Morgenster, Uva Mira, Val de
Vie, Hamilton Russell, De Krans, Sequillo and many others. Anwilka Red* is included
because it is already being traded in Bordeaux via French company Fidelis Wines and thus
may already have a familiarity factor to overseas investors. The white wines included tend to
have established themselves as capable of many years ageing, important when most
portfolios won’t show any returns for at least five years. For this reason it is difficult to
consider Sauvignon Blanc as a potential investment wine, though some styles, such as
those of the late Didier Dagueneau are challenging that premise. Room might be kept for
‘wild card’ wines which suddenly become fashionable or which achieve success in
competition, such as Eagle’s Nest or Rijk’s Private Cellar and which present an exciting – if
risky - gamble. Nevertheless, such a portfolio would contain few mistakes and, as is the
beauty of wine investment, any ‘mistakes’ can always be drunk and it is hard to imagine any
of the above giving anything less than real pleasure.
There would appear to be several ways to create a portfolio of wines for the SA wine
investor. First choice would be to buy from the vineyard, especially en primeur. Provenance
is guaranteed, the price is the absolute best and storage could be at home or at a
merchants. Second choice would be the CWG or Nederburg auctions. Both allow individuals,
though it would be necessary to have a least one case stored at the Bergkelder in order to
qualify for proxy bidding at the latter ( at a fee of R42 p/c,p/y ). Both are an opportunity to
acquire small lot investment quality wines, though competition is fierce from trade buyers.
Third choice would be to buy through a reputable merchant such as Winecellar, Reciprocal
or Cybercellar. Their access to investible wines, knowledge and advice, possible storage
facilities and delivery makes acquiring stock easy. Last choice would be to buy from
retailors, who often discount wines to make space or believing them too old. Despite paying
retail margins there may still be profit possibilities in the mid to long term. At present, it
might prove impossible to invest in SA wines via an investment company, as they are yet to
include SA wines in their portfolios.
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