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Welcome to WineCap

Vineyard with path through it

Hello, we’re WineCap and we’ve changed our name from Westgarth Wine Investments to give it a bit of a refresh, invested more in our technology, streamlined the new site and have added extra features that benefit our visitors. You can now schedule a free 30-minute consultation with one of our investment experts. We’ve also created the Academy which is a hub of online resources.

New Name. Same Team.

We’re still the same independently-owned company and team who’ve been proud to serve you for the past ten years and who will continue to offer expert investment advice for the next chapter of your wine journey.

Do I Need to do Anything?

You don’t need to take any action. Your online details remain the same, there are no changes to the wines you hold or where they’re stored and you can phone the same people using the usual number.

What’s New?

You’ll see our updated branding on our new website. We’ve also launched the WineCap Academy where you can learn more about the producers you invest in, stay up-to-date on what’s been happening in the market and get the low-down on everything in the wine investment sector. What’s more, you can expect new quarterly reports in order to stay informed with market trends.

So, a big ‘hello’ and ‘welcome’ from all of the team here at WineCap and we’re excited about this new phase of our wine investment journey together.

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Asian Buyers make up 65% of the World’s Total Drinks Buyers

Asian lady selecting a bottle of wine from her cellar

Asian buyers now make up 65% of the total wine and spirits buyers in the world. That’s according to Sotheby’s 2020 Wine Market Report. Asia’s demand for the world’s finest wines looks set to grow too, as 2020 was the second highest percentage on record for Asian buyers, after 68% in 2019.

There are multiple factors that can be attributed to Asia’s growing market share of the total wine and spirits market. The Coronavirus pandemic had a direct impact on drinking habits last year. Unable to visit restaurants and bars, China’s wealthy citizens began opening bottles of some of the finest wines from their cellars at home.

An international travel ban and lockdowns across China also meant that those who usually would have travelled abroad on holiday, opted instead to spend their money on buying top wines such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: a producer that represented 20% of all wine sales at Sotheby’s last year. However, while Bordeaux and Burgundy producers still make up the top ten names in Sotheby’s annual producer rankings, Asian buyers are looking further afield to regions such as Napa, in order to discover new wines such as Harlan Estate, Sine Qua Non and Colgin Cellars.

The future for wine imports into Asia, particularly into China, looks very promising. 2.25m nine-litre cases were imported into China in 2006 compared with a colossal 50.5m cases in 2019. Although there was a slight drop in the number of cases imported in the past two years, the trend for increased wine consumption looks set to continue. This is due to a combination of wine enthusiasts having opened bottles from their cellars during lockdown, as well as the disruption caused to supply chains to mainland China by the Hong Kong riots having ended.

As more and more Chinese cities open up – such as Shanghai – on-trade sales of fine wine are beginning to blossom, as consumers celebrate the easing of lockdown restrictions. With such strong figures from Sotheby’s recent report, all eyes remain firmly fixed on Asia with big expectations for this wine market that shows huge potential for growth.

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Invest in Wine with Confidence now that we have a Brexit Deal

Old bottles of wine on display

Investing in wine is more straightforward now we have a deal

Ever since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, trade talks and negotiations between the two sides had been full of uncertainty, posturing and brinkmanship which at times made it feel like a deal was unobtainable. So, the news that a trade deal – now ratified by the UK Parliament – had been struck on Christmas Eve in 2020 was met with welcome relief across all industry sectors on both sides of the Channel and especially by those looking to invest in wine.

1. The costly VI-1 import documentation for UK and EU wines is no longer going to be introduced in July as previously planned. Taking its place will be a straightforward Wine Import Certificate which asks for basic producer and product information. This means far less admin and fees for wine importers, which in turn means no extra costs will be passed on to customers.

2. Crucially, wines will not have to undergo lab assessment for the new Wine Import Certificate. Submitting wines for lab analysis would have caused backlogs of wines which would have created frustrating shipment delays.

3. While UK wine importers are going to have to get to grips with new processes and forms over the coming months, this is just part of the anticipated bedding-in period which will become second nature as time goes on and as new processes are established.

With the previous uncertainty around Brexit having disappeared with the end of the transition period and with the years to come looking as though they’ll mirror previous years of healthy returns for fine wine, contact us to speak to one of our advisors about creating your portfolio to invest in wine.

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Bordeaux En Primeur 2020: First Impressions

Barrel room at Chateau Cos d'Estournel

The Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 campaign is well underway and the general consensus from the trade and from critics is that this is an excellent vintage, the third in a row:

‘We have a reputation in Bordeaux to say the last vintage is the best one. But we did with 2018, 2019 and now 2020… after we did our tastings in the spring I can say it is a really great vintage. It is different from 2019 with more freshness, more tension, more balance. It’s a good one. Maybe a bit less powerful than 2019 but it made really great wine. I think that we can call it a trilogy now (three consecutive high quality vintages: 2018, 2019 and 2020).’ – Michel Rolland in conversation with James Suckling

Ahead of the Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 campaign, we’ve all been expectantly waiting to see how this year’s prices compare to 2019’s, as last year’s prices were considerably lower than previous years, due in part to the ongoing global pandemic that caused significant disruption, especially when it came to mass tastings being cancelled. Initial releases have come in either at the same price as last year or slightly higher. Increased prices are due largely to volumes being down some 25% on the year before.

The quality of the vintage has been declared as very good to excellent and the wines that have been released so far have commanded varying scores that range all the way from very good to 100 points.

As Jane Anson writes in Decanter: ‘Bordeaux 2020 is a year of contrasts, so it favoured terroirs that are best able to cope with the changes – and winemakers who were able to follow closely and help their vines adapt.’ There are some stunning wines being released and those who have done their research will reap the benefits. For expert advice, schedule a call with one of our investment analysts.

Interested in reading the Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 report in full? Access it here.