Many people who collect fine wine talk about it as an investment. But is something that pairs nicely with rack of lamb really an investment — or just a way to justify paying tens of thousands of dollars for a single bottle?
If you had been a buyer of the top five Bordeaux producers in France, known as premier cru, over the last century, you made a smart financial move, in addition to one that would please your palate.
A study by three finance professors, to be presented at a conference in Georgia on Sunday, found that wines from these chateaus — Haut-Brion, Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Mouton-Rothschild — posted annual returns from 1900 to 2012 that beat government bonds, although they trailed equities.
The 5.3 percent real return fell to 4.1 percent after being adjusted for insurance and storage costs. The return was better than other collectibles like fine art and stamps... Read the full article on the NYT website