It’s National Wine Day and as a nation of wine lovers it seems churlish not to raise a glass on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday to celebrate. In fact, to make it even more special we are offering the chance to win a magnum (1.5l) of the ‘original Prestige Rosé super star’– Chateau D’Esclans’ Whispering Angel 2019 – visit our Facebook page and you maybe quaffing this wonderful Provence wine on us next week.
In terms of fine wine’s investment performance, there’s reasons to raise a glass here as well. On trend, fine wine is holding rock steady, whilst we continue to see volatility in equities and commodities.
The Bank Holiday weather is in stark contrast to the storm clouds gathering on the horizon in terms of economic outlook with, commentators voicing the potential of negative interest rates, the first time this would be done in the Bank of England’s history. April saw the Government borrow £62bn, surpassing the total anticipated in March for the year ahead of £55bn. The Chancellor is expected to plan for QE on the scale of £100bn and gilts have already been sold with negative interest rates. Money is starting to feel a lot like Monopoly notes, yet fine wine is seeing an increase in demand and upward tick in some prices. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 index ( measures the last ten physical vintages of the Bordeaux First Growths) rebounded 1% in the week 15th May 2020 – up 2% since its yearly low in April. The 2019 Bordeaux vintage en primeur campaign is apparently expected to commence in June with reduced release prices – we will keep you posted!
How long will we live with the effect of Covid-19 on the economy, is currently the Holy Grail. Some commentators are suggesting that the bottom of the ‘global lockdown recession’ impact has already been experienced and nations are commencing the crawl out as lockdown measures start to be eased. One indicator of interest – the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) tipped up from 13.8 in April to 28.9 in May – a positive movement – but there’s still a long way to go. Levels under 50 are consistent with falling GDP. Should there be a second spike as a result of softening measures this could be even more catastrophic – but we have to compliantly try to make some form of progress in terms of economic healing.
So, whilst we still have to live with high levels of uncertainty, there is a lot to be said for raising a glass, responsibly, just for the sheer pleasure of it on a sunny May Bank Holiday and as an investor to also enjoy the knowledge of some capital security of a case or collection of fine wine in a bonded warehouse.
For more information on investing in fine wine see our Guide to Investing in and Collecting Fine Wine and visit our Facebook page for the chance to win a wonderful magnum of Whispering Angel 2019.