With Sergio Esposito as consultant, a bankstah running the show and the wine in a WWII bunker in London, how can you go wrong? And investments in rare Italians, Champagnes and Spanish reds, always the mother lodes of big returns in the fine wine market. I am desperately trying to get their wiring instructions this morning! 
Do people believe in this s^*t ??
The answer appears to be âyesâ, but the numbers of people involved may not be so great. If the first fund here was $20 million, and if everybody invested $500,000 (admittedly only an assumption), the fund would have only 40 participants. I am guessing that this sort of thing attracts mostly those for whom $500,000 is not a lot of moneyâŚ
I guess if you started the fund in '09 or '10, had direct access to top burgundies at the âdirect from direct retailerâ price, or also access to people who wanted fast liquidation of great stuff, and you stayed to Burg (Bordeaux not really that good from '10 to today), invested in DRC, Roumier, Rousseau, etc, you could have doubled your money. Again predicated on buying âdirectâ and not from auction. Even if you bought these best performers in auction in '10 and sold them now, also in auction, I donât think youâre up much, if anything, after the 20% frictions both waysâŚ
Guys that write stuff like this should be forced to show an audit of the results.
Sign of the times (or Times, as the case may be) that there seems to be little or no editing of anything that falls under the general heading of entertainment at the NYT. That includes food, wine, travel and anything that can be lumped with them. Also, tons of stuff published that appears to be either a gold star on some youngsterâs resume or an infomercial article touting the authorâs forthcoming book. My sense is that the Times may not even be paying for some of such content, or at least not much. You know that the corporate purse is empty and it gets really hairy when a mediocre food guy like Mark Bittman goes op-ed and former restaurant critic (and by no means the best of a long and distinguished list of Times restaurant critics) Frank Bruni gets to write about anything that he chooses. A long-winded way of saying that the Times publishes articles like this one, totally devoid of any investigative effort, just to fill space cheaply these daysâŚ
I wonder how much old vs new vintages these funds own and how much Rudy wine makes up the old vintages.
Exactly. Liquidating âRudiâ wines could prove to be very difficult.
If what the article claims is so, then the exposure would not seem to be great, what with new releases, rare old Italians, Champagne and Spanish reds. Of course, I suppose that I would highlight those wines if half my fund was in Rudy suspects! I am hearing from a retailer friend that Rudyâs conviction has had a noticeable chilling effect on sales of older wines, and not just DRCs and trophies like the 1947 Cheval Blanc that he was known to counterfeit. What sayeth any of you who are monitoring such things?
I read the article with interest.
I am glad that Bottled Asses Fund is a successful story but what about the 2 other which failed badly ?
I re-read of the article written in Nov 2010 by čŹĺĺż under the title : Sell Lafite now.
In this article he predicted that it had never been easy to call the top of bubble ( for Lafite and other fine wine ) but probably in 2012. But the most interesting lines I found were the followings :
Even wine lovers have become hoarders. They used to gather for a glass of ine wine. Now they talk about how much money they are mkaing on their collections over a glass of bad wines⌠![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
Bill - I would say the important events re Wine Investment Funds were :
(1) Aucton market started in 1994 in USA; (2) the elimination of import tax on wines by the Hong Kong Government; (3) the Rise and Fall of Lafite and (4) The Rudy affair.
I am a Burgundy guy and I know what I like. I told my wine-friends to sell at least half of their collection of Lafite in December 2010 
****Even if you bought these best performers in auction in '10 and sold them now, also in auction, I donât think youâre up much, if anything, after the 20% frictions both ways. ****
Yes - Peter you are right except vintage 2005 red Burgundy is an exception to Peter Hirsch RuleâŚbearing in mind some do not need to buy them at auctions.
With the rise of G-cru released-price for vintage 2012 and vintage 2013 and their decreasing availability, could you please predict how much 2005 red g-crus will increase by the end of the year 2016 ?
