Wine Was More Valuable Than Gold In 2021
Let us raise a glass to our future investments, my friends.
Not sure why I keep writing about the wine industry when I have very little wine expertise, but here we are. I may not be an expert, but I am a fan—and it's great to know my interest in wine may even yield some financial gains. Live-Ex, which touts itself as "the global marketplace for the wine trade," recently released its annual report on the fine wine market. Per the report, wine had a great year—better than, say, gold.
According to the report, "fine wine (as measured by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index) has been a better investment than several traditional equity markets, including the FTSE 100, Dow Jones and gold." What's driving this success and growth in the market? The report credits low to zero percent interest rates as a result of the pandemic, which drove investment in alternative assets. "Even when lockdown measures largely eased, fine wine remained in the spotlight," reads the report. (If you think I don't know much about wine, you'll be shocked at how little I know about investing.)
Case in point: the Live-Ex report showed that a Salon 2002 Champagne almost doubled in price from about $7,340 a case to $13,345 a case in 2021. Behind that was a Burgundy: Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru 2021, to be exact, which rose from $22,820 a case to $39,630.
Our commenters have graciously roasted my lack of knowledge by pointing out that I don't even understand the nuances of wine versus, say, champagne. Other than the bubbles in one, they're right. I don't get what the big difference is. It's all fancy juice to me. However, what I can glean from this report is that exploring my interest in wine might actually be a good investment. That is, if I had an extra 10 grand lying around somewhere. (I do not.) To read the full report, you can go here.