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Sussex Sparkling Wine Secures PDO Status

Nyetimber vineyard with rows of vines in the sun

It’s English Wine Week and there’s now one more reason to raise a glass of Sussex sparkling wine. It has just been awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status from the Ministry for Farming, Fisheries and Food.

A product with a PDO means that it’s made in a particular way and comes from a specified region. It represents a guarantee to consumers that the product they’re buying is the real thing and prevents imitations.

Top wineries including Nyetimber, Bolney Estate and Rathfinny Estate all make wines in the region and will soon have another layer of protection in the form of the Sussex Sparkling Wine PDO that they can add to their bottles.  

Sussex currently has just under 50 wineries and – like many of the extraordinary English sparkling wines out there – has gained well-deserved international recognition. Its still wines are gaining momentum too. As the region gains accolades, awards and wineries, the only way is up and it continues to produce some of the finest sparkling wine in the world, giving top Champagne cuvées a run for their money.

Another element the Sussex PDO highlights is the difference in terroir in English winemaking by drawing a clear line between them and others made in Kent or Surrey.

Simon Thorpe, CEO of WineGB, commented on the new PDO: ‘The approval of a PDO for wines grown and made in Sussex comes at an important time for English and Welsh wines… There has never been more interest in and demand for our wines and the reputation they have gained in both domestic and international markets is based on high quality viticulture and winemaking excellence.’ 

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The Biggest Wine Investment Trends in 2022

Rolling hills of a vineyard in the sun

The fine wine market has seen immense growth and broken numerous records in the past year – here we outline four of the biggest wine investment trends to watch in 2022.

Bordeaux investment wines

Bordeaux remains the most important region for investable wines globally. It attracts the greatest liquidity, meaning that its wines, particularly the classified Growths, see consistent levels of trade. Bordeaux is a staple in most investment portfolios, and the annual En Primeur campaign draws attention from collectors and trade year after year.

2022 sees the launch of the 2021 vintage, which critics have largely claimed exceptional for dry and sweet white wines. Many of the new releases offer great value for money but there is also a plethora of exceptional older vintages like 2019 which are already enjoying serious price growth. A category to watch this year is the second wines of the First Growths, which benefit from the same technical expertise as the Grand Vin but represent a lower-priced alternative. These wines tend to deliver some of the biggest return on investment.

Strong competition from Burgundy

On the global fine wine market, Burgundy has emerged as Bordeaux’s strongest competitor. For the first time in 2022, Burgundy has even taken a greater share of the UK fine wine market than Bordeaux. Demand is greater than ever but so are allocations.

Driven by scarcity, early investors in the sector have seen increases of over 2,000% in some wines. Over the past two decades, Burgundy’s leading index, which tracks the price performance of the 150 most sought-after wines, has risen over 740%. Today, the trend is to seek value – and stock – within Burgundy’s appellations, as the region continues to give investors reasons to want more.

Vintage Champagne 

The start of the year was all about bubbles. Vintage Champagne led the charts in our Q1 wine market report – a trend that is set to continue. Looming shortages due to the 2021 grape harvest, which was one of the smallest on record, have only increased global demand and pushed up prices. Consistent returns, stability, brand appeal and unparalleled distribution are just few of the other reasons why Champagne is very much in vogue in 2022.

The rise of other wine investment regions

The ongoing broadening of the fine wine market means that there are plenty of investment opportunities to discover outside the aforementioned French regions.

One such example is California. A string of good vintages in the past decade and high critic scores have elevated the region’s share of the fine wine market from just 0.1% to 7.6% over the past decade – a theme that is set to continue.

Italy is another success story. More Italian regions outside the pillars of Tuscany and Piedmont are delivering value and stable returns.

Want to discuss these wine investment trends in more detail with an expert? Schedule a call with one of WineCap’s investment advisors.

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Free Wine Investment Tool ‘Wine Track’ Launches

Laptop displaying Wine Track page

We’re delighted to launch Wine Track, the most comprehensive index available. It enables you to identify the right, undervalued wines to buy and sell across the global market at the right time and price.

Our in-house technology collates and analyses Liv-ex and Wine-Searcher data, along with over 400,000 wine prices a day collected independently from 250 leading wine merchants across the globe, helping you navigate fine wine markets with confidence.

We’re proud to have also developed our own bespoke scoring system: the Wine Track critic score. It aggregates more than 100 wine critics’ scores from 12 worldwide publications to produce a simple and transparent score that marks each wine out of 100. This helps you reference a wine’s quality at a glance, as some critics use different scales to grade wines.

To demonstrate just how powerful Wine Track is, we’ve identified that Chateau de la Tour, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, Vieilles Vignes – at £1,794 per case – represents a real opportunity for retail investors to diversify their portfolio. This wine is from the same vineyard in Burgundy as Domaine Leroy, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru – at £65,816 a case – and has an almost identical Wine Track critic score: 93.8 points compared to Domaine Leroy’s 94.7 points. While Domaine Leroy’s price is driven by its excellent reputation, Chateau de la Tour offers better value and accessibility.

Our tool monitors over 75,000 investment-grade wines from 1990 to the present day, enabling you to track how prices have changed over any given period.  

Wine Track is testament to the hard work of our development team and we’re proud to launch this free tool that harnesses the latest technology. Our data-led investment decisions are the reason our customers continue to experience positive returns. 

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Champagne Lanson to sell on La Place de Bordeaux

Lanson's Le Clos walled vineyard

Le Clos Lanson is set to become the second Champagne ever to be sold on La Place de Bordeaux, one of the world’s oldest marketplaces. The single vineyard expression – and Champagne Lanson’s top cuvée – follows Champagne Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses onto the historic marketplace.

La Place de Bordeaux is over 800 years old and is a distribution system that consists of around 300 négociants (distributors) and courtiers (middlemen) who buy and sell wines from Bordeaux châteaux. Historically, La Place only sold wines that were made in Bordeaux. However, in 1998 the marketplace opened its doors to its first non-Bordeaux bottling: Viña Almaviva’s 1996 vintage, a joint venture between Château Mouton-Rothschild and Chile’s Concha y Toro. In subsequent years, more and more non-Bordeaux wine producers have been invited to sell on La Place. Think Napa’s Opus One, Australia’s Penfolds Grange and Argentina’s Catena Zapata.

The advantage of selling wines on La Place is its access to global markets and experience selling into Asia, especially China. Négociants have salespeople around the world primed to sell high-end wines. Lanson’s president, François Van Aal, commented on this new approach:

‘This distribution method will enable our icon cuvée to reach a larger amount of wine lovers and collectors around the world, while strengthening the awareness of our Champagne house which is already present over 80 countries’.

Le Clos Lanson 2009 will be the first expression sold on the platform. This top cuvée is produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes harvested from a one-hectare, walled vineyard in the heart of Reims. Only just over 7,000 bottles, along with some magnums, were produced of the 2009 vintage.

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The Wine Investment Market: What You Need to Know

necks of wine bottles

The wine investment market is characterised by its stability, increased diversity and high returns, which are particularly valued when traditional markets underdeliver.

Long considered a niche, the global fine wine market has considerably grown in size over the past two decades and has attracted more and more investors. This, in turn, has contributed to greater price transparency (making it easier to discover the price of a wine) and market liquidity (making it easier to sell it), which have facilitated the trade of fine wine. The more wines that have been in demand, the more prices have risen, creating something of a virtuous circle.

But the fine wine market is not without its intricacies. Below we examine the importance of market data, the returns you can expect from wine investment and the reasons why the market is growing.

What is the ROI on wine?

Fine wine prices are currently at record levels so there is arguably no better time to be involved in the wine investment market. The globally recognised Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index, which monitors the price movement of the 100 most sought-after fine wines in the world, has risen 307% over the past two decades. The broader Liv-ex 1000 index, which tracks 1,000 wines from around the world, has seen even greater returns: 361% since its conception in 2003.

Individual wines have risen by different amounts, like the First Growth Château Mouton Rothschild 2000, which has appreciated over 800% in value since release, or Domaine de La Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2010 – up by over 1,000%. Such rare fine wines impress with their stellar performances, but there are other more widely available alternatives that can deliver your desired return on investment (ROI). There are currently over 12,000 different wines that can be considered investment worthy.

While ROI is dependent on the wines you choose to invest in, there are additional factors such as provenance, storage and the time of buying and selling that will affect your profits. Reliable market data can help you make informed investment decisions.

Is wine a risky investment?

Wine is a low-risk investment. Physical assets like fine wine are stable sources of value in times of uncertainty. While stock markets can crash and share prices can collapse overnight, tangible assets do not cease to exist. As a low-volatile investment, fine wine delivers stability and consistent returns. It is a proven way to strengthen and diversify an investment portfolio. Additionally, wine is not reliant on a single economy and it can be traded internationally.

Fine wine also tends to perform well in inflationary environments due to its inherent tangibility and scarcity. It is a combination of investment and luxury good, which benefit from rising global wealth.

Is wine a good investment? 

Fine wine has a proven track record as an investment. A quick look into the history of the fine wine market shows how it has delivered stability and returns during the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and other global events that have shaken equities.

As a passion investment, fine wine benefits from global demand. Wine is, after all, one of the oldest beverages in the world and its appeal has never waned. Its inherent value only adds to the strength of the fine wine investment market.

Interested in speaking to one of WineCap’s investment experts, now you know the wine investment market’s fundamentals?

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5 Ways Fine Wine Investments are Good for the Environment

Rows of vines in a vineyard

When it comes to fine wine investments, the environment probably isn’t the first thing that crosses people’s minds. We’ve taken a closer look at why, we believe, it should be reconsidered as an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) or Socially Responsible investment.

With ESG, alcohol is usually one of the first asset classes to get screened out[1]. Interestingly, this could stem from the Quaker movement, who first started the trend of ethical investing about three hundred years before it became mainstream[2]. This famously teetotal religion encouraged investing, but only if it toed the holy line. In the late twentieth century, other investments came under fire too, especially those which profit from war. Today, it’s generally accepted that investments in alcohol, pornography, gambling, and weaponry cannot be “ESG”[3].

But is this approach a little sour? Especially when you can find the likes of British American Tobacco, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, British Petroleum, Phillip Morris, ExxonMobil and more featured on popular ESG funds[4]? How could fine wine possibly be worse for the environment than junk food or oil companies? And is it time to reset the dial and realise the true environmental potential of this asset?

Here are five sobering reasons why fine wine should be reconsidered as an ESG investment: 

1. Vineyards are a carbon sink

A rugby-pitched-sized area of vineyard soaks up a respectable 2.84 tonnes of carbon every year[5]. For context, three of these plots would balance out what the average Brit emits annually[6]. Unlike most other ESG investments today, this off-setting is a natural and intrinsic part of the business model of wine-making. It’s not an ‘extra’. This is no ESG stunt or short-term project.

Supporting the healthy growth of plants is essential to the production of winemaking. There are precious few investments which literally grow on trees and soak up carbon as part of their day-to-day functioning.

2.   Soil quality can be enhanced through fine wine

What’s more, vineyard managers who mulch or compost their old or unused vines (rather than burn them) can save an additional 4.5 tonnes of carbon[7]. As well as helping to mitigate climate change, this also raises the quality of the soil, which is great news for local ecosystems too.

Soil degradation is hot on the radar for concerned environmentalists. Around a third of the planet’s land is damaged from intensive farming[8]. And, alarmingly, fertile soil is being lost at a rate of 24 billion tonnes a year[9]. Sustainable vineyards provide a welcome respite against this concerning environmental damage.

3.   Organic wine production supports pollinators

Vineyards can also offer welcome sources of nectar for pollinators, like bees. These tiny creatures are vital for our planet and well-being. It’s estimated that one third of all our food is thanks to the humble pollinator moving from plant to plant and spreading seeds along the way[10]. Sadly, over the past decades, irresponsible agriculture, overzealous pesticides, and the loss of wild meadows have seen these essential creatures fall into steep decline.

Organic or pesticide-free vineyards – often one of the hallmarks of fine wine – helps bees and other pollinators get back on track. Small flowers bud around the vines as by-products, and split grapes provide rewarding sweet juice for the hungry invertebrates. Some wineries are now planting more native shrubs around vineyards to further support pollinators[11].

4.   Fine wine fights back against single-use plastic

Plastic is fast becoming a dirty word – and especially single-use plastic. Even 400 years after it’s thrown away, this packaging will not have biologically degraded[12]. As activists and environmentalists call for an end to this era, fine wine could help carve out a new way forward. Unlike disposable plastic, fine wine glass bottles are something to be treasured.

What’s more, glass has a much higher recycling rate than plastic alternatives, and unlike plastic it can be 100% recycled.[13] Although glass is by no means a perfect solution, it seems to be a better way forward than many other “ESG” junk food, soft drink or oil companies are offering. Fascinatingly, some wineries are even experimenting with light-weight glass and even cardboard bottles as we type[14]. Watch this space!

5.   Vineyards help fill rocky terrain and hills with plants

As anyone who spent a youthful summer picking grapes will be able to tell you, it was more of a work-out than expected! This is because the knee-high vines are usually grown on steep sunny hills and even over rocky terrain.

While this may be strenuous on the hamstrings, it’s great for using up space wisely. Vineyards often voyage up mountains and valleys to face the sun. This helps to fill up otherwise unsuitable stretches of hillside with plants and flowers.

The higher altitude also acts as a natural pesticide, making it much easier to create organic wines. What’s more, these vineyards are also less likely to catch and spread grape diseases[15], adding yet another environmental benefit to the investment.

… Is it finally time to consider fine wine as a sustainable investment?

As assets go, wine is one of the least carbon-intensive. As WeForum recently pointed out[16], you’d have to drink a bottle of wine every single day for three years for it to have the same impact as a single London to New York flight.

The fundamental business of creating wine is so intrinsically sustainable that most of its emissions come from just the packaging [17] and tourism[18]. And winemakers are keen to cut these down! Every day, we’re seeing more and more environmental initiatives coming from the industry. From renewable energy to sustainable wine tours, there’s a vast range of bright and brilliant programmes coming into the mainstream.

So, is it time to start considering fine wine as a viable environmental investment? We believe so.

If you’d like to learn more about the fascinating world of wine investments, download our complimentary guide.

 

[1] Source : UN PRI

[2] Source : The Ethical Partnership

[3] Source : UN PRI

[4] Source : HD Investment Content

[5] Source : Wine GB

[6] Source : Wine GB

[7] Source : Wine GB

[8] Source : United Nations

[9] Source : United Nations

[10] Source : Our World in Data

[11] Source : Forbes

[12] Source : National Geographic

[13] Source : Sustainable Jungle

[14] Source : Beverage Industry Enthusiast

[15] Source : Olive Magazine

[16] Source : We Forum

[17] Source : UPMRAFLATAC

[18] Source : The Conversation

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Château La Gaffelière to Leave the Saint-Émilion Classification

Chateau La Gaffeliere's exterior

Château La Gaffelière has announced that it has decided to leave the Saint-Émilion classification. That now makes it the fourth Premier Grand Cru Classé to withdraw from it.

The Malet-Roquefort family has owned the estate for over 300 years and released a statement which detailed the reasons for its departure. The château no longer recognises ‘the values in the criteria for evaluating the great terroirs and fine wines of Saint-Émilion as set out by the Classification Committee’.

The château cited the committee’s first report which it said ‘called into question the quality level of our terroir, which has been acclaimed and distinguished by the AOC authorities for more than 65 years’. The Malet-Roqueforts argue that the scoring system put in place for the tasting, ‘contradicts all the scores that Château La Gaffelière has obtained over many years from the greatest wine professionals’.

The classification is updated every 10 years and in 2012 it awarded Premier Grand Cru Classé A status to Châteaux Angélus, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Pavie. Only Pavie currently remains. Angélus said that the classification had become a ‘vehicle for antagonism and instability’. 

Châteaux Ausone and Cheval Blanc withdrew from the classification last year as they found that there had been ‘a profound change in its philosophy’ in 2012. They believe that there was now ‘too much of a focus on marketing drift such as the importance of product placement, how often an estate appears in media, including PR and in social media, along with wine tourism infrastructure’. 

Defending the classification’s process, the Saint-Émilion wine council said that the new ranking system is ‘a formidable tool for challenge, innovation and modernity’.

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Why the 2022 Burgundy Vintage is Looking Promising

Burgundy vineyard with rustic house

Frosts descended on some of France’s key fine wine regions in April for the second year in a row. Producers in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne braced themselves for the coldest temperatures the country had experienced since April 1947. Burgundian winemakers were perhaps the most hypervigilant out of all the country’s producers who were taking measures in the vineyard to prevent the frost from settling. Burgundy’s vignerons were poised to battle the elements each night in the hope of escaping the same losses that impacted the 2021 vintage.       

Fortunately, the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) – Burgundy’s wine board – has just announced that this year’s frost damage isn’t as bad as first thought. While ‘everyone had feared the worst’, due to a mild winter and two snaps of frost in April, it commented that ‘this event is different’ to last year’s. ‘The vines are less advanced in the growth cycle and in general terms, the frost was shorter and less intense.’ The areas which came under the most pressure from frost were ‘certain sectors in the northern part of the region.’

The BIVB’s technicians found in their analysis of vineyard plots that early May’s warmth and rainfall had helped accelerate the growing season and that flowering had begun mid May.  

While the climatic challenges experienced this year hadn’t resulted in as much damage in Burgundy’s vineyards as previously feared, the BIVB warned last month that there are still potential difficulties that lie ahead. This stems from a combination of increased global demand from consumers and reduced yields in 2021. Another factor the wine board highlighted was the financial pressure winemakers were under, having had to pay for additional vineyard equipment, such as candles, to ward off the frost. 

With frosts becoming more and more of a yearly occurrence and with producers’ margins becoming even tighter, could we see already high Burgundy prices rise even more? WineCap will be keeping a close eye on the 2022 Burgundy vintage and its progress. 

October 2022 update: Now that the harvest is in, discover the BIVB’s initial thoughts on the quality of the vintage and yields in our article.

Want to learn more about Burgundy, its producers and appellations? Download our Region Report to find out more.

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Fine Wine Investment Tips

Laptop open on a desk with a cup of coffee

If you’re considering fine wine investment, here are some tips to help you get started.

How to get the right information?

It is important to do your own research and stay up-to-date on fine wine investment trends but where do you get started?

Looking into wine types, growing regions and brands is a useful first step. Researching average prices for the wines you want will help you make sure you are being quoted a reasonable price when you come to buy them. Nowadays there is a wealth of pricing data online for investors to navigate.

Meanwhile, regional fine wine investment reports and vintage overviews can help you understand the fine wine market in more depth. WineCap’s Academy provides a resource on producers and their wines so your knowledge grows, as your portfolio does. News websites like The Drinks Business, Decanter, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times, regularly cover topics related to fine wine investment. Critical coverage can also help you navigate the world of fine wine and inform your investment decisions.

Regularly researching the fine wine market and identifying emerging trends will help you find the best investment opportunities available.

Should I use a wine investment company?

Wine investment companies have years of experience dealing with the fine wine market and its intricacies. Relying on the latest digital innovations, wine investment experts can share their unbiased knowledge with you and advise you on the best wine investments. WineCap’s unique proprietary technology analyses over 400,000 wine prices a day to identify buying and selling opportunities across the global market.

Working with a reputable fine wine investment company helps you get the wines that you want. WineCap has access to the top investible allocations and an extensive portfolio of wines stored in secure government bonds.

While it is possible to conduct your own research, find your own storage and buy your selected wines, investing in fine wine through a trusted specialised company saves you time and money.

Looking for a wine investment guide? 

Our Fine Wine Investment for Beginners guide can help you get started. The guide provides an overview of the fine wine investment market and how it works in practice. It also outlines the wine investment process in four simple steps.

Get started now you’ve discovered these top fine wine investment tips. Speak to one of WineCap’s advisors to find out more about next steps.

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Why Fine Wine Might be a Better Investment Than You Thought

Stock market screen

WineCap featured on YourMoney.com today in an article that focused on how fine wine is gaining an increasing amount of investor attention in a climate of rising inflation and market volatility. You can read a summary below:

In the current climate of war, instability and rising inflation, alternative asset classes such as fine wine, are in the spotlight for investors.

A lot of asset classes have been materially hit by factors including the war in Ukraine and issues arising from Covid-19 including record inflation.

High inflation creates a big problem for some investors. Price increases reached 9.2% in the UK in March, hitting a 30-year high and that rate is predicted to continue to grow over the rest of the year.

Economies in Europe and North America are also experiencing these kind of pressures. Central banks have begun increasing base rates and further rises aren’t ruled out later in 2022.

With uncertainty in the markets, lots of investors are looking to diversify their portfolios and reduce risk.

Alternative asset classes are attracting a lot of attention and investment-grade wines are exhibiting capital strength. The fine wine market is fostering a stable environment, even during periods of economic uncertainty.

The high end of the fine wine market is self-contained and not linked to financial markets. This is due to the fact that it shadows the movement of wealth around the globe. It has low volatility when compared to conventional markets and other ‘luxury’ asset classes.

The past 25-30 years has seen investment-grade wines grow in popularity due to their finite production levels, flexibility and stability.

It also has a proven track record of resisting inflation. The main fine wine 1000 index – from its launch to the end of 2021 – has gone up 270.7%, survived three global financial crises and delivered more returns than the S&P500.

Interestingly, in the current economic climate, as inflation spiked towards the end of 2021, the price of fine wine did too and the 1000 index rose over 19% last year.

Fine wine is generally viewed as way to store value. In the past few years, wine has performed better than gold. In 2021, wine returned 22.5% while gold returned -2.69%.

The market has grown in recent years with more investment from both sophisticated and retail investors; this has generated more demand for limited physical cases of wine. This demand is continuing to grow. For the world’s most sought-after wines demand always outstrips supply.

Companies are democratising wine investment, something that historically was only for high net worth individuals and sophisticated investors.

Retail investors can now take advantage of lower fee models and harness cutting edge technology to benefit from fine wine’s diversifying powers in a currently uncertain and unstable environment.

WineCap is a new wine investment company which analyses over 400,000 wine prices a day to identify the right, undervalued wines to buy and sell across the globe.