Corkr Fine Wines

Corkr Fine Wines have been designing a New Website due to be launched we hope in a month, which will give all our clients considerable more wine choice and all the information you need to purchase wines with confidence for investment and drinking. Look out for it.

We would like to wish all our loyal customers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank them for their business in 2011.

Our office will be closed from Midday 22nd December through to 3rd January 2012.

The news that Warren Buffet, the worlds richest man and owner of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bought more than $10 Billion of shares in IBM raising his stake to 5.5%, provides an interesting insight into his strategies in these uncertain times.

For many it all looks doom and gloom, with the debt crisis in Europe, but it also provides windows of possibilities.

Recessions are known to be where the Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer, but this is not down to luck, it is down to shrewd investors looking for opportunities and speculating.

The wine market is no different from the share market and there will always be winners and losers. Warren Buffet has bought in to IBM to shore up any losses in other investments he has made, otherwise known as balancing the books. This is exactly what investors in wine should be looking to do, as already seen, some wines have dropped 20% or more in the last 4 months, but others have held their price and a wise investor should look for undervalued wines to balance their portfolio.

Liv-ex, the wine exchange, has seen an 8% drop in the last few months, but only in the last week has seen prices flatten out and greater interest return to the market. Is this the time to buy back in, may be to shore up losses, by buying good back vintages that are now looking undervalued.

Is it time to buy heavily, it is hard to say. Just before the wine prices started to decline, we made a call in December 2010 for all our clients to sell Lafite Rothschild 2008 at £14,500, most did. The wine is now trading around £9,000.

There is a lot of tension in the trade as we all wait on tender hooks to start buying again and it will not be long until the buying trend starts. It may only last for a few months but this could be what investors are looking for to re-gain confidence in this popular market.

Had a great day at the Royal Opera House tasting of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage, the second time since tasting En Primeur. The vintage was described as the best in 60 years and I still agree. Highlights were the following Chateaux: Gruaud Larose, Pichon Lalande, Pichon Baron, Lynch Bages, Clerc Milon, Leoville Poyferre, Langoa Barton, Lagrange, Canon, Clos Fourtet, Clinet, Gazin and Troplong Mondot. Unfortunately the First Growths all stayed way.

Also two great drinking wines; Chateau Clarke around £20 per bottle and Chateau Malescasse around £10 per bottle.

The last 3 months has seen the wine market showing a Bear trait with prices dropping across the board, with the greatest losers being the first growths.

The wine market has as expected been influenced by the economic woes in Europe, stock market falls, currency volatility and credit downgrading of the UK by Standard & Poor's.

Liv-ex, the wine market exchange, has seen negative figures since the summer, with members trying to sell (Offers) but very few offers to buy (Bids) in the market as the shrewd buyer waits for the market to drop further. Live-ex showed a drop of 6.35% as of 30th September.

In the last few days on Liv-ex we have seen certain wines showing positive figures, this may be because of supply and demand, little stock available and a demand, but it could be the signs that we and our clients are looking for, that prices are bottoming out and that prices will return to positive territory and start again to rise.

Time will tell, but it could provide the confidence that clients need and a buying opportunity at the bottom of the market.

The Baritault du Carpia family have sold the estate of Chateau Mauvesin to Lilian Barton and her husband Michel Sartorious.

The estate had been in the same family since the 15th Century and sold the majority of their wine to the french supermarkets.

Chateau Mauvesin, located in Moulis, near Listrac, on the left bank is an estate with 48 Hectares of vines, with a beautiful Chateau surrounded by parkland.

View article from Art Daily - Bonhams sells case of Romanee Conti for £126,500 in Fine Wine Sale.

View article from the Decanter - Bordeaux 2011: Crop damaged as hail hits northern Medoc.

A world record for the sale of a bottle of white wine was achieved with the sale of a very rare bottle of Chateau d'Yquem 1811, Sauternes at an Auction at the Ritz Hotel, London to french collector Christian Vanneque for £75,000.

View article from the Guardian - Bottle bank: world's most expensive white wine sold for £75000.

Fine wines outstripped gold, crude and the FTSE 100 as an investment last year as prices surged for top vintages

View article from the Guardian - China bordeaux lovers heat up France's wine industry.