Passionate Investors Hunger for Art, Wine

Wealthy wine and art lovers are buying up cases of Bordeaux and Picassos with the hope of offsetting the general market downturn, Reuters reports.

 

"More and more people are looking at wine as an asset class, discovering it is uncorrelated to bonds and equities, that there are fund managers out there to help them capture those gains," said Andrew della Casa, a director at the Wine Investment Fund.

 

While wealthy enthusiasts have been filling their wine cellars and covering their walls with these “investments of passion,” some analysts say these investments – like all luxury goods – will behave poorly.

 

There are a few exceptions: Christie’s recently sold a case of Chateau Petrus Vintage 1982 for $64,000 and a Francis Bacon triptych for $52 million.

 

"The art market did not suffer repercussions when the Internet bubble burst and it is doing extremely well today, even after the credit crunch," Robert Tomei, CEO of Italian fund manager Advanced Capital.

 

But experts caution that no investments are completely immune from a market downturn.

 

"Investing in fine wine is no panacea," said James Miles, a director at Liv-ex. "You have to go in with your eyes open. In a period of lengthy dislocation, wine prices tend to fall, but the fall is nothing like what the debt, equity and property markets have seen, and the outlook seems strong."

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