The global wine market is valued at around $340 billion. Fine Wine has outperformed traditional markets like stocks during the Dotcom Bubble, the Great Recession of 2008, and the COVID-19 recession. Fine Wine as an asset class returned 50.8% over the past 5 years, outperforming S&P 500, Gold and most other alternative assets.  

Vinovest is a California-based company that lets you build a personalized portfolio of investment-grade wines. Vinovest uses a combination of master sommeliers and AI algorithms to identify and purchase wine at competitive prices. You can have your pick of more than 100 different kinds of investment-grade wines on the Vinovest Marketplace. Unlike other competitors, when you buy a case of wine on Vinovest—it’s yours. The company will custody, store, and insure your wine. But it’s up to you if you’d like to sell it, buy more, or have it all shipped to your house. The company has more than $100M in assets under management. Invest from $1,000.

Just as with value stocks, returns are made from asset appreciation and the sale of wines in your portfolio (a process which Vinovest manages). Vinovest’s average five-year historical back-tested return with a moderate risk tolerance is 12.40% net of fees and 16.60% with the aggressive plan. The annualized return of fine wine as an asset class over the last 15 years is 13.6%, outperforming the S&P 500. This implies consistent growth, even during economic downturns, making wine a stable asset class. You can also sell wines from your investment portfolio at any time if you want to increase your cash flow or invest in new wines. Vinovest finds the highest price buyer in their network and transfers your wines to the buyer. Furthermore, you can actually request a bottle from your portfolio be delivered to you to drink.

Vinovest charges a fixed annual fee of 2.85% (2.5% for a portfolio above $50,000). This fee will be charged on a monthly prorated basis based on the total asset value of your portfolio. This fee covers wine buying, authentication or wine fraud detection, storage, a full insurance policy at market value, portfolio management, and fine wine selling. The auto-invest feature will lower your fee from 2.85% to 2.7%, and from 2.5% to 2.4% (a 5% discount across both plans).

Vinovest has a robust insurance policy that offers replacement at full market value in cases of breakage or theft. They also maintain direct relationships with wineries and trusted industry partners to ensure the authenticity and provenance of every bottle they purchase. Their state-of-the-art storage facilities will keep your wines in perfect aging conditions. Vinovest is committed to providing their customers with a great investing experience, so they even have a satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with your Vinovest account for any reason, they will do everything they can to make it right, up to and including waiving Vinovest’s management fees for the next 90 days.

Vinovest is an investment market like any other, so be aware that prices can go down as well as up. The quality of wine is not static. Investing in wine typically lacks liquidity (however Vinovest has provided options to liquidate). Counterfeiting of investment-grade wines is an industry problem, however Vinovest's insurance covers you for this.