What is Wine investing? What is whiskey investing?

Wine investing involves purchasing premium bottles of wine with the expectation of reselling it later at a higher price. Because fine wine improves with age, while the supply of a vintage diminishes over time as bottles are consumed, the price of portfolio-worthy wine generally should increase with time.

At Vinovest, we make it easy for an investor to hold a portfolio of fine wine: we take care of storing, securing, authenticating, and insuring the wine so that it stays in top condition. 

Our clients own their bottles outright and can offer them for sale whenever they’d like.

Whiskey, like fine wine, also improves with age. Unlike wine, however, whiskey does not age once it’s bottled, and must age a minimum amount of time in a cask before it technically becomes whiskey: for example, bourbon must be aged at least two years to go from unaged distillate to straight bourbon (though most bourbons are aged at least four years). As a result, distillers must wait years before selling their whiskey to consumers. In the meantime, they sell those casks to free up working capital. Often, the same distiller will buy back their whiskey when it’s mature so that they can bottle and sell it.

Whiskey investing involves buying after distillation, at a lower price, and selling before bottling once the whiskey has been adequately aged.

Whiskey and wine share many of the same advantages, including low volatility, inflation resistance, and low correlations with the stock market. Additionally, whiskey casks have returned 12% to 18% annually over the last 15 years.

Note: fine wine and whiskey are long-term, illiquid assets. Selling wine and whiskey outside of its ideal selling window may result in the rate of appreciation not covering costs and expenses, such as Vinovest transaction fees and third-party costs to sell the wine or spirit. For more information, please read our Terms and Conditions.