California Wine Archives

Cult Wines Americas – The Future of Fine Wine Investment [Part 1]

The “Silver Linings” are real when it comes to fine wine. Despite 2021 being an unprecedented year due to COVID lockdowns, volatile markets, and Brexit challenges, it has been a record-breaking year for fine wine investment.

Both Champagne and Burgundy have an excellent final quarter, with Champagne gaining 22.98%, according to the Liv-ex Champagne 50 index, and the Burgundy 150 posted a 11.19% quarterly gain in advance of the upcoming 2020 vintage en primeur releases. The fine wine market certainly shows encouraging signs that a brighter future is ahead.

According to the Liv-ex Bordeaux 500 Index, over the last 18 months, there has been a resurgence of interest not only from those who have been building their wine portfolios over the longer term but also from new investors.

There are some big investors looking into this alternative-asset class including Warren Buffett himself, so I thought it would be a good idea to investigate further. Cult Wines Investment came on top of my searches.

About Cult Wines Investment
Founders Tom and Phil Gearing launched the Cult Wines platform in London during 2007 with the idea to revolutionize the way fine wine investment works and make the asset class more accessible. Not only is Cult Wine Investment the global leader in fine wine collection and investment management, but they are also on a mission to make investing in wine as enjoyable and rewarding as the wine itself.  The leadership team have a deep-rooted passion for fine vintages, and close relationships with prestigious and respected growers, as well as market-leading investment expertise.

Enters “Cult Wines” Americas
Cult Wines enters the North American market in 2021 with headquarters in New York and Toronto, as one of the first wine investment platforms with a special focus on US and Canadian investors.

“The US is a big player in the auction and collectors’ market but historically has been underserved in the wine investment market,” describes Tom Gearing, the CEO and co-founder of Cult Wines.

“Historically, the wine investment category has been perceived as only for the wealthy, or those with considerable wine knowledge. We know that is not the case and are enabling more people to invest effectively while maintaining the client service, impeccable standards, and returns for which we are known,” said Atul Tiwari, CEO Cult Wines Americas.

Cult Wine Investments website: www.wineinvestment.com

Here is a list of the Americas leadership team and either wines they have really enjoyed or regions they love.

Tom Gearing, Global CEO

Tom Gearing oversees the company’s overall strategy, global operations, and technology innovation. Tom has grown this start-up to an award-winning global company with $390 million assets under management (AUM) and 80+ employees in six offices including: United Kingdom, North America, and Asia Pacific.

Tom has been regularly quoted in the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. As well as being the recipient of numerous awards, he has received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade and the Spear’s 500. He also holds a WSET Level 3.

Tom’s Favorite Wines:

Tom enjoys chardonnay and pinot noir, and at the same time, he likes to try as many different styles and grape varieties as possible. His most memorable vinous experiences to date are Petrus ’61 en Magnum, Liger Belair La Romanee ’09 and Domaine Leroy, Richebourg ’03.

Atul Tiwari, CEO, Americas

Atul Tiwari leads the team and is responsible for the overall strategy and development of Cult Wines Americas. Hailed by Investment Executive as ‘having a knack for knowing what’s next.’

As former CEO of Vanguard Canada, Atul and his team helped pioneer ETF investing in Canada and grew the company to $30 billion in assets over 7.5 years. Prior to Vanguard, he was the founding President of BMO Exchange Traded Funds. In 2018 he received the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce award for Corporate Executive of the Year and has twice been named to Wealth Professional’s annual list of People to Watch in the industry. Atul is a member of the Independent Review Committee for Mackenzie Funds, a Director of the D.D. Foundation, Atul is also a member of the Advisory Council for the CFA Society of Toronto and an Honorary Trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Atul has previously managed a 4,000-bottle cellar of Bourgogne for Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (Toronto). It’s interesting to note that he also has a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and has practiced in both London (UK) and Toronto before transitioning to finance.

Atul’s Favorite Wines:

Atul has a passion and is very knowledgeable on Bourgogne, in addition he enjoys Bordeaux and Italian wines.

Carrie Tuck, CMO, Americas

Carrie has spent nearly two decades working in public relations and marketing for multimillion-dollar brands and start-ups within the financial services industry.

Prior to joining Cult Wines Americas as Chief Marketing Officer, Carrie was the Head of Marketing for Vanguard, Canada and was instrumental in building the brand in the region. Throughout her career, Carrie has held various senior positions at asset management and fund companies, where she ran marketing, product and client service. Carrie also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Concordia University.

Favorite Wines:

Carrie likes to experiment with wine, so she seizes opportunities to try new wines whenever she can.

Jonathan Stevenson, EVP, Americas

Jonathan brings over ten years and extensive experience in the alternative investment sector of fine wine to his role of Executive Vice President at Cult Wines. In 2021, he was appointed to oversee Cult Wines’ global expansion into the Americas and is responsible for growing the client base.

Previously, Jonathan was the Sales Manager for the UK sales team. He began his career at Cult Wines as a Portfolio Manager after graduating from Newcastle University (UK) with a degree in Marketing and Management.

Favorite Wine:
Vega Sicilia Unico

– Up Next –

Cult Wines Americas – The Future of Fine Wine Investment [Part 2]

I will explore and do a deeper dive into this growing alternative-asset class, and explore Cult Wine’s new investment platform how it makes investing in fine wine more accessible!

#wine #finewine #wineinvestment #alternativeinvestment #winenews #winelovers #winecollectors #champagne #bordeaux #burgundy #finewinelovers #wineindustry #winebusiness #winetrade #winetrends #vin #frenchwine #winemarket #winenews #wineeconomics #vintagewine #wineinvestors #cultwines #cultwinesamericas #cultwinesUSA #cultwinescanada #cultcru #bourgogne #mycultcollection #winewednesday

Disclaimer

Past performance is not indicative of future success; the performance was calculated in GBP and will vary in other currencies. Any investment involves risk of partial or full loss of capital. The Cult Wines Index is a hypothetical tool. The results depicted here are not based on actual trading and do not account for the annual management fees that may be charged to a Cult Wines customer which ranges from 2.95% to 2.25% depending on the size of the portfolio, and there is no guarantee of similar performance with an investor’s particular portfolio.

SVB Wine Report: The US wine industry sees some challenges in 2022

According to the latest Silicon Valley Bank Wine Report shows that although 2021 proved to be a good year for the US wine industry, several serious challenges signal uncertain times ahead.

The report points out that underlying trends remained a big concern, with the most serious being that younger consumers are not getting interesting in wine, and wine is losing market share to spirits, craft beer, RTDs and other alcoholic drinks.

“This issue has yet to be addressed or solved, and the negative consequences are increasingly evident,” Rob McMillan, EVP and Founder, Premium Wine Division warned in the report. “Wine as a product has lost the lustre it once had with the consumer 20 years ago and is probably entering a phase of negative volume growth.”

“By 2025, 27.9 million Americans will cross normal retirement age at 66, while 30.3 million will cross age 40.5. That will be too many consumers leaving their best buying years, and too many consumers entering their best buying years, to ignore,” McMillan states.

The report also points out out the homogeny and lack of transparency of many entry level wines that was failing to appeal to younger, more health-conscious potential wine drinkers, who wanted to drink less but better, while the high price of more premium offering was another deterrent.

“Premium wine producers haven’t figured out how to produce their wine for an entry-level consumer. Without an on-ramp, it’s going to be hard to grow the wine category,” McMillan further states.

Declining volume sales

Across the on and off-trade, data from SipSource shows that growth in wine compared to spirits stalled at the onset of 2021, having both shown comparable volume growth during 2020. As the report showed, when businesses reopened in January 2021, that comparable trend took a dramatic turn and while spirits finished the year in 6.1% growth, wine was down -8.9%.

Although the report highlighted a number of tailwinds, it criticized the “lack of leadership within the wine industry to counter these obvious trends and cooperate to form a marketing organization to promote the wine category”.

This points to the potential decline of restaurants as an important channel for the wine industry in the US, the report also warned.

“The restaurant industry will likely continue to decline in its importance to the wine industry as a viable sales channel due to overpricing on the menu and consumers who value other alcoholic beverages over wine,” the report said. “Restaurants may find that wine is not in demand at the prices charged and that the cost to maintain deep stocks of wine is becoming senseless.”

There was evidence that the amount of wine sold through the wholesale channel fell throughout the year despite tasting rooms, restaurants, hotels and travel resuming business. This indicates that as restaurants reopened, wine inventories are being streamlined into smaller wine lists.

“The investment in long wine lists might be limited going forward,” McMillan said.

Other highlights:

• Consumer behaviour has irrevocably changed as a result of the pandemic – the switch to homeworking is set to stay, and the move to online purchasing is also set to remain.
• Premiumization has continue to accelerate, however the higher price points are being offset by lower total volumes.
• The industry needs to invest to accelerate, looking at online and ecommerce driven by data, rather than focusing on more traditional channels, such as the cellar door.
• A key warning came around anti-alcohol messaging, which it said continued to grow while guidelines from a variety of government and health organizations “loosely apply science to influence consumption and taxes”. However the greater threat was a push to place “additional and more dire cancer warnings on wine”. “The industry can’t allow that to become a reality.”

#wine #winetrade #winenews #wineeconomics #wineindustry #winelovers #SiliconValleyBank
#USwinemarket #SipSource #instawine #vin #instawine

RESULTS ARE IN for the 2021 International Wines and Spirits Competition (NH)

The IWSC has just released the results of the 2021 Northern Hemisphere wines, and here are some of the winners.

This year there were 3,460 wines that were awarded medals.

Gold Medal Wines

Only 148 wines qualifying for a gold medal this year.

Fifteen of the wines were sweet wines and sixteen were fortified wines (with eight being port wines and eight were Sherries).

Canada this year received seven gold medalists in the sweet wine category. All seven were ice wines from the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario. The highest-rated wine was the Andrew Peller Estates, Niagara Peninsula VQA, 2019 Riesling, 10.5% ABV.

Greece also had two gold medalists – 2001 and the 2013 bottlings from Estate Argyros on Santorini. Other standout sweet wines included the Szent Tamás Furmint 2018 from Balassa Bor Tokaj in Hungary and the 2017 Trockenbeerenauslese Riesling from Weingut Rabl in Austria.

Sparkling Wine

There were 32 gold medalists in the sparkling wine category with France dominating this category with 14 winners. The top-ranked Champagne was the 2008 Piper Heidsieck, Brut. Right behind it was the 2008 Piper Heidsieck, Rosé Brut. Other standouts include the 2012 Chateau Palmer Brut and the 2008 Orpale Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc from Champagne de Saint Gall.

Italy had seven sparkling wine winners: Franciacorta, 2014 Brut from Lo Sparviere and, surprisingly, a 2020 Concerto Lambrusco Dry from Medici Ermete. There were four Prosecco bottlings: 2019, Duca di Dolle Societa’ Agricola, 100% Extra Dry; Tenuta di Collalbrigo, Non-Vintage, Extra Dry NV; Conte Collalto, Octavian Sui Leviticus Zero Dosage Brut Naturale and the 2020 San Salvatore Brut Millesimato Prosecco DOCG from Collalto.

UK had nine winners in the sparkling wine category, with the highest-rated British sparkler being Nyetimber, 2013 Blanc de Blanc.

Dry Still Wines

There was a total of 73 dry still wines that won gold medals. The top four countries that dominated this category were: Spain (7), France (12), Italy (28) and US (7). Together these four countries accounted for 54 of the 73 medalists.

The top-ranked French wine was the Famille Carabello-Baum, 2018 Corton Grand Cru, Pinot Noir. The top ranked Italian wine was the Lagarbiana 2016 Barolo from G.D. Vajra.

The top-ranked Spanish wine was the Vina Arnaiz, 2016 Pata Negra Reserva, Ribera Del Duero.

US Winners

Naked Wines, an online subscription wine vendor won three gold medals for its 2018 Exposed Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Petite Sirah and the 2019 Pinot Noir. Among premium wine producers, Francis Ford Coppola Winery won a gold medal for its 2017 Director’s Cut Zinfandel and the 2018 Archimedes Cabernet Sauvignon.

There are a lot more winners to explore … you can find the complete list at the IWSC’s website https://bit.ly/3hHNRiK

#wine #instawine #winetasting #winenews #wineawards #IWSC #IWSCjudging #IWSCresults #winelovers #redwine #whitewine #sparklingwine #champagne

Penfolds’ “Wine of the World” Label

Penfolds has just launched its most radical project to date, the inaugural, four-bottle “California Collection” which are blends from both South Australia and California wine together – a concept that is certainly revolutionary in the fine wine world.

Penfolds, South Australia’s premier winemaker, has again pushed the envelope by releasing the inaugural “Wine of the World” label.

The four wines in this new series are from the 2018 vintage. The top two wines in the collection, ‘Quantum Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon’ are both blends of Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, with the Quantum Bin 98 mixed with 13% South Australian Shiraz and the Bin 149 blended with 14% South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.

The other two wines in the collection are Californian. ‘Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz’ is a blend of fruit from Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Paso Robles, and ‘Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon’ is from Napa Valley.

The wines were released globally a few weeks ago and are priced at $50 US – $700 US.

It was also hinted that more wines under Penfolds label will be coming from Bordeaux and Champagne in the future.

While the idea of doing a cross-continental blend does not seem like a possibility for most winemakers, Penfolds can now say that they have certainly pioneered this concept.

https://www.penfolds.com/

#penfolds #penfoldswine #penfoldscollection #californiacollection #australianwine #californiawine #wine #winenews #instawine #winelovers #redwine #vintagewine #finewine #winecollectors #wineoftheworld #winetrends

Francis Ford Coppola Winery celebrates the 93rd Academy Awards with two limited edition wines produced by Bottega S.p.A.

Francis Ford Coppola Winery has created two limited-edition wines in honour of the 93rd Hollywood’s prestigious Academy Awards.

“The Family Coppola 93rd Awards’” limited-edition bottles themselves have been produced by Bottega Spa and feature a mirror gold colour exterior. Each bottle was crafted as a symbol honouring the significant talent, passion and hard work achieved throughout the entire film industry.

The Francis Ford Coppola Winery wines selected for the 93rd Awards are a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon, both from 2019. They come from grapes grown in Sonoma County, in the first year since 2011 that California did not suffer from drought, giving the wine a pleasing complexity, thanks to the high quality of grapes from that year.

The Chardonnay is balanced and bold, with notes of stone fruit and white peach. The Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is earthy and spicy with good acidity. Both develop an alcohol content of 14.5% vol.

The exclusive golden bottles have been produced by the Bottega S.p.A. winery in Bibano di Godega (TV), which for years has been developing an exclusive metallization process, thanks to the mirrored gold colour becomes “glass,”, a patent recently recognised also by the Court of Appeal of Venice.

The friendship with Francis Ford Coppola and Sandro Bottega was born together with Stefania Sandrelli, who says: “mutual esteem and trust is the common thread that has allowed us to come together for a little big common toast” and in the same way Sandro Bottega tells of the uniqueness of Francis Ford Coppola “in every thought there is Italy, our culture (including food and wine): Francis sometimes drinks wine cut with water, a real spritz, like our grandparents; he is a man of great culture who spends a lot of time on history books to imagine the future’.”

@coppolawine @bottegagold
#coppolawine #bottega #bottegagold #bottegagoldwine #bottegawine #limitededition #Oscars2021 #Oscars
#winelovers #instawine #oscarwine