Investors make a toast as wine market recovers

The market for fine wine crashed last year, leaving many burnt fingers in what was the biggest downturn for what is always a speculative field.

But wine broker Premier Cru says the market has bottomed out, and should rise by 10 per cent over the rest of the year as Chinese buyers splash out, sending prices higher. Stacey Golding, co-founder of Premier Cru, said: “We believe there hasn’t been a better time to buy since 1998 or January 2009.

“Although we continue to see the prices of our most desired investment wines rise, there is a considerable opportunity for investors to profit in an ideal medium- to longer -term period and the sooner investors act, the more they can benefit from the turnaround”. Investment wines to watch are Château Pontet Canet and Château Lafite Rothschild, Premier said.

Large wine merchants are beginning to hold stock once more, and investors’ readiness to buy good-value stock has seen the market return to a more traditional level of stability. Golding added: “The fine wine market has consistently outperformed not only the gold index, which recently saw the worst two-day performance since 1983, but also the UK housing market.

“With the current economic crisis in Cyprus, investors are awakened to the fact money is no longer ‘safe as houses’. We predict a 10 per cent increase to December, and the market growing by 22 per cent by Christmas 2014.”