Fine Wine Prices Set to Rise in 2013, Says BWC Management & Consulting and TWIF

LONDON, ENGLAND, February 27, 2013 (Press-News.org) Over the last 10 years wine investors have seen the reputation of wine as an asset class grow to a point that investing in wine is no longer considered as a speculative venture but rather as a genuine alternative to the traditional asset classes of equities, bonds, currencies and property etc. Even in this time of double dip recession, investment experts have predicted that fine wine will increase in value over the course of the next twelve months by as much as 20 per cent. Investors can be further reassured by the fact that experienced investors are continuing to plough their money into physical or tangible assets such as diamonds, gold, classic cars and art along with wine, escaping the more volatile and uncertain financial products and investments.

The Wine Investment Fund (TWIF) on Hedgeweek.com earlier this month predicted that the fine wine index, the Liv-ex 100, would see the value of fine wine rise in 2013 by 14 per cent. Rachel Cooper at The Telegraph newspaper says "a rise of as much as 14 per cent in 2013", while BWC Management & Consulting's Senior portfolio Manager, Sam Cheung is even more optimistic and expects to see movements of 13 to 20 per cent over the next 12 months.

Bordeaux's first growth wines of course leads the way, with the likes of Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux, Latour, Haut-Brion and Mouton-Rothschild all expected to be front runners in terms of performance and market demand. With a destabilising 2012 behind us, fine wine prices look set to continue the upward trend as demand for first growth premier cru Bordeaux continues to surge.

Wine traders have become accustomed to seeing an increase in sales at this time of year due to the new but dominant Asia market tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year. Also to follow in March and April is the much anticipated tasting of the 2012 En Primeur releases. The vintage is predicted to be very low in production across the board mainly due to inclement weather tarnishing the grapes.

Daniel Paterson, Market Analyst at BWC Management & Consulting explains, "Stock piling has been taking place and as usual, quality vintages of first growths are being acquired more frequently by investors, merchants and wine lovers alike. This adds to the already extreme levels of demand and rarity and with the underlining conditions strengthening."

There is solid demand for fine wine as supply diminishes. This harvest is expected to be the lowest for at least 37 years according to a recent article in the Telegraph. These two factors alone promises to keep the focus of a lot of buyers on this market for some time to come.

"Last year First Growth wines saw some very positive performances, while there was an interesting difference between the lesser vintages of the Rothschild in which the Lafite was the strongest, while the Mouton classic vintages performed well. As always BWC's favourite, Petrus continued to shine," says Paterson.

This is the time to buy while markets are showing the lowest levels since 2005 and as the market begins to rise, those who are already sitting on quantities will get excited to see the turn of the table.

Though other markets are going through tough times, the future for Bordeaux and wine investment looks set to continue its upward trend.

Website: http://www.bwcmanagementandconsulting.co.uk/