Investment Clubs

 Not so long ago, certainly until the mid 1990’s the world’s finest wines were expensive, but at a push they were affordable in small quantities and furthermore they were available to most wine buyers who expressed continued interest. Today, international wealth managers suggest that there are up to 10 million people with $1,000,000 in liquid funds & 100,000 with $30mm liquidity. If this is the case one can certainly imagine why a finite supply of first growth claret as well as the myriad of prestigious single estate wines from around the world might well be getting a great deal more expensive and a whole lot scarcer.

With such robust demand the returns on these great wines are as good or better than ever, but the capital required to own them in the first place has never been greater. One solution to this can be found in the growing number of fine wine buying groups. Over the past few years we have seen several informal buying clubs spring up amongst our clients. In most examples they have pooled relatively modest funds together to create a decent “war-chest” to enable members to take immediate advantage of allocations of the worlds super wines. 

Such clubs vary in their degrees of formality and all are managed differently but they do have much in common; the members, few or many, share a wish to create a world class cellar between them taking advantage of early release prices. Some are driven primarily by the desire to create the ultimate cellar to divide up when mature, others are focused upon the potential financial returns. For most it has always been a combination of the two.

Our access to these sort-after wines at HarperWells has never been greater; over the past 12 months; Gaja, Lafite, Margaux, DRC, Sassicaia, Ausone, Lafleur, Hill of Grace, Pavie, Palmer to name but a few have all been offered by HarperWells at first release prices.

If a buying club is something that could interest you and your friends or colleagues then please contact us and we can discuss how this could work, in practice, for you.