The French Connection” was the evocative name given to a dinner organised by the Bangalore Wine Club at the Blue Ginger, Taj West End, Bangalore, on August 20, that paired French-Vietnamese cuisine with four wines from Bordeaux.
Interestingly, the event was preceded by a PowerPoint presentation by Meenu Kohli of the Winetage Investment Fund on why and how people should invest in wines through it. I mean, here was a person of Indian origin, living in Paris, operating a Cayman Islands-based fund, doing a roadshow in Bangalore, on French wines! Seems to indicate that both globalisation and wines are coming of age in India.
Fine wines are a fungible asset, in that once consumed, that particular bottle is gone for ever, never to be available again. Very few wines improve with age — remember that old adage of “Old wine in new bottle”? Those that do (principally French Bordeaux and Burgundy) start becoming drinkable at about 10 years and keep improving in quality for many years more — some can keep for up to 100 years! Of course the available stock keeps dwindling, so prices increase inversely, and a price plateau for such wines would be reached at about 70 years age, with a steep falling off after another 20 years or so.
This is rarefied country, the high ground of wine, where prices can reach mind-boggling levels (hundreds, if not thousands of euros per bottle) and don’t make any sense to ordinary mortals.
Trading in wines is complicated and fascinating — a challenge not for the faint- hearted, and definitely something that sets one apart from the rest. Here’s a quick check list for the interested.
What to buy: Definitely Bordeaux, which accounts for 90 per cent of all fine wine trades worldwide. Always go for the top wines: Chateau Latour, Lafite, Margaux, Haut Brion, Lynch Bages, d’Yquem, Petrus, Ausone. Also a few top names from Burgundy: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Coche-Dury, Comtes Lafon and De Vogue. For the balance 5 per cent, take your pick from the top Champagnes, a few Barolos and Super Tuscans, and perhaps some of the cult wines from the US (Screaming Eagle, Opus One, et al). Bordeaux are the only wines that can be purchased en primeur (from the cask).
Where to buy: Anyone wanting to invest in fine wines can either buy the wines themselves, or invest with a wine fund. Buying the wines can be done from wine auctions, from an established wine merchant or broker or a specialist wine investment company. Investing with a wine investment fund is like investing in mutual funds: safer, but less interesting. UK auction houses: Sotheby’s and Christie’s are the biggest and best-known. Wine merchants: The best-known wine merchants are Berry Bros & Rudd, Bibendum, Corney & Barrow, and Justerini & Brooks in London. Wine investment companies: One should be careful here — go only with the best with proven track records, including Magnum Fine Wines and Premier Cru Fine Wine Investment. Wine investment funds: The Fine Wine Fund, The Vintage Wine Fund, The Wine Investment Fund and, of course, our Winetage Wine Investment Fund.
Like stocks, there is now an online trade in wines that is tracked (and facilitated) by the Fine Wine Exchange — Liv-Ex.
Wines I’ve been drinking: A Gamla Merlot 2008 from Israel’s Golan Heights Winery, which I rate at 87 points — a kosher wine, with lots of fruit and soft tannins, very drinkable, although a hefty 14.5 per cent alcohol. The proof was in the drinking — the bottle did not last the evening!
L’chaim! (Hebrew for “To life!”)
The writer is a Bangalore-based wine consultant
