The market for wine in a strange one. It is essentially a luxury product and yet millions of bottles are produced each year.One wine may be 10 times as expensive as its cousin and wine popularity can be up and down like a roller-coaster. One thing is certain though, there is a lot of money to be made from wine and now is a better time than ever to invest.

The prices of fine wines has been on the increase for the last couple of decades. As more refined production techniques and better storage capabilities allow for high class wines, so the prices for those wines continues to increase.Sotherby’s Jame Richie who works as the top wine professional there actually said “Prices had risen to nearly unsustainable levels last spring”.However, the struggling market currently has lead to a very clear a drop in prices. 2009′s March figures showed a decrease in prices of close to 1.2% according to the index that tracks 100 of the top collectible wines, known as Liv-Ex 100.  This is trend that experts expect to continue for while and can in fact be seen throught the wine sector, from wine production to the sales of standard wine glasses.

A bottle of Montrachet Domaine Romanee-Conti (1978) very recently got picked up at a Chicago auction for $3,500. That very same bottle sold at a Sotheby’s auction a few years ago for $23,929. This sudden drop basically means that if you’ve ever had an urge to start collection yourself, either as an investment or just a hobby, the best deals are just around the corner.  Experts think that the market will be at its lowest point by the end of the year, after which it will start to pick up again slowly.

Joss Fowler, a wine investment expert from Berry Bros & Rudd has some tips for getting the best return. A Red Bordeaux is a pretty sound bet according to him, mainly because it very rarely ages badly. Also, play it safe and get the best wines your money can buy from the best vintages. Stay true to this rule and you’ll be filling up your pretty champagne glasses sooner than you think.

Technorati Tags: auction, drink, investing, money, prices, storage, wine

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Food and Drink: Wine Spirits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.