I work as a Bordeaux wine guy. I’m never quite sure what to say about it. Am I a broker, or a retailer, or whatever? I’m not sure, but effectively what I do is sell wine from all over Bordeaux to private customers. That’s not just the expensive reds, I’m talking about the whites, the rosés, and the bubbles too. But naturally, for Bordeaux at least, it’s the top end reds that hold people’s attention.
Unfortunately it means dealing with one of my pet hates. Wine investors. Actually let me rephrase that, it’s what’s known as alternative asset investors, and more particularly ones that don’t understand what they’re doing or getting themselves into.
For me, wine is there to be drunk. But I’m a simple soul. I meet winemakers, I meet owners, and I drink wines. I personally think these guys make this stuff for me and my mates to drink it and get maximum pleasure out of it. But I’m not naïve enough to ignore that whenever the price tag starts to creep up then someone somewhere sees an opportunity for a fast buck.
In recent years of course the fine wine market has dropped in value. Too many investors holding onto that rising balloon have all tried to sell at the same time, and guess what happens? It’s the same with property speculators. I have no sympathy with anyone who loses money when all they were trying to do was make money. Especially when they then bad mouth the product because it’s clearly not them being idiotic sheep that’s meant the value has dropped a bit.
I have no desire to deal with investors. I want my clients to want to crack open the bottles I sell them and have a great time.
Here’s hoping.
Mike
