Choosing your wines

Once you have found your trusted merchants, brokers, or auction houses, and decided upon a budget to spend, it is important to have a strategy in building your collection. The best reason to buy a wine is because you have tried and enjoyed it, but wine collectors often develop different palates as their experience, and it is important to ensure one’s collection include wines that will gain in value as they age, providing one with the funds to finance purchases of wines that you have learnt to like in the future. When deciding what wines to buy, one should have the following considerations in mind.

FActors to consider

1.       Does the wine have ageing potential?

If not, it may be a perfectly enjoyable wine, but not one for the collection.

2.       Is the vintage well regarded? How does the pricing compare with similar vintages?

It is not always the case that the “best” vintages are the best for the collection as it may be overpriced, overhyped, or simply unsuitable for one’s palate (warm vintages that produce potentially more fruit forward wines are typically lauded). Weaker vintages could provide better price entry, while “great” vintages typically are priced expensively on release, but have more lasting demand to help retain and propel value.

3.       What are the thoughts from professional critics?

From a consumption perspective it is important to taste different wines, and compare the comments from different critics to find the critics that most align with your tastes. From an investment perspective, it is important to understand that some critics have more influence in particular markets compared to others.

4.       Is the wine rare? How many bottles are produced annually?

Wines that have limited production annually (e.g. Grand Cru Burgundy) may be hard to purchase on release, are allocated, and as a result have more potential for price growth. On the other hand, such wines are priced expensively on release and as a result may have limited potential to rise in price.

5.       Is the wine packed in original packaging?

With an eye on potential reselling in the future, note that merchants, brokers, and collectors value original cases higher than loose bottles as original cases give buyers more confidence in the wine’s provenance.

6.       Can I trust the provenance of this wine?

Buying wines on release, or as close to release as possible, can guarantee the provenance of your wines. Failing that, it is important to know that the supplier to your collection can be trusted, cares about transporting the wines properly, and take care to source wines that have been well stored.