Guy Woodward: Why wine investment is the scourge of the wine world

By Guy Woodward

Published: 04 November, 2024

If there’s one wine headline guaranteed to have me reaching for the eye-roll emoji (to be honest, there are several, though never in this fine publication, obvs), it’s the ‘Fine wine index soars as investors toast bullish market’ type of thing.

The giddy narrative around the subsequent article (or its more common recent counterpart, ‘Signs of hope that fine wine market dip has bottomed out’) is that ever-higher prices in the trading/broking/auction world are a good thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, if you were looking for one ingredient that has done most to sour wine’s image among consumers, it would be the scourge of wine investment.

Think about it. Prices sky-rocketing beyond all correlation to what’s in the bottle and the means of all but the super rich. The top wines being treated with ever more reverence, impervious to criticism and held up as vastly superior to those (often equally good or better) further down the chain. The trusty old guard of Bordeaux and Burgundy, plus a smattering of the Rhône, Tuscany and California being vaunted as the only fine wine regions of any note, cutting off, at a stroke, the huge progress seen across whole other countries. Wines sold primarily on scores rather than their nuance, provenance and make-up. And the market being awash with dubious selling practices, shady businesses and fake bottles.

Read more: Jerry Lockspeiser – Seriously, are you ok?

I understand that buoyant prices are good for certain parts of the trade, and create room for higher margins and greater interest. The ascent of the blue chips into the stratosphere could, the argument goes, spark more demand for the next level down, showcasing more innovative producers (and, God forbid, regions). This could then trickle down to those creative retailers boasting a dynamic selection of fine wine, fairly priced. But ultimately, it’s a false economy.

Much of the money from the secondary market goes into the pockets of charlatan operators and their vainglorious clientele. Neither have the slightest interest in championing the glorious diversity of the wine world. As for the producers who profit, they are able to make ever greater wines (in ever smaller quantities), thereby further distancing themselves from the masses, at the centre of a vicious, impenetrable circle of power. It’s like football clubs that buy the best players off the back of last season’s success and become even better – and richer – as a result.

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Elitism issues

All of this further alienates the average punter. A little context here. The wine industry has long beaten itself up around the question of why wine is seen as elitist and can’t attract younger customers. When, in 2003, I joined Decanter as a fresh-faced 20-something with next to no wine knowledge, I was employed specifically to make the magazine more appealing to a younger audience. A decade later, in my final editor’s letter, I documented what I considered to have been the most significant changes over those 10 years. Top of the list was the emergence of an elite sector at the very summit of the market, buying purely for investment purposes. Here’s a snippet.

“The serene progress of the top-end wines into status symbols for the mega-rich has not been good news for true wine lovers. Not simply because it renders such wines inaccessible, but because it has encouraged unsavoury practices, from the counterfeiting of wine to fraudulent en primeur selling, and the springing up of previously untried “cult” wines merely due to the verdict of an individual critic. All of this further casts wine, in the eyes of many, as an elitist pursuit.’

Twelve years on, I stand by every word. The reference to Robert Parker serves as a reminder of quite how ridiculous it was that he was ever granted such sway. That the Bordelais, in particular, were so in thrall to his palate that they would gladly mask their typicity by extracting to the nth degree and slathering their wines in new oak was nothing short of a betrayal of their sanctified terroir.

Funny how they’ve all dialled down the bombast since he retired. But the damage has been done. En Primeur, for years the safe preserve of the aspirant middle class, is now rendered an anomaly, prices having spiralled to the extent that merchants are no longer able to guarantee customers will be buying at the best price.

Ultimately, of course, it all comes down to money. And some parties have done – and continue to do – very nicely out of it all. But from where I’m standing, a bursting of the bubble would be no bad thing.

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