Peter Lunzer : « I expect the price of the good vintages of Sauternes Chateau d’Yquem to double over the next few years »

(More wine news on www.vitabella.fr) Fine wine fund managers, private collectors...We received a great amount of e-mails concerning the recent editorial "Fine Wine Investment Funds: What should they learn from the past to make Great Returns over the Next 10 Years?"posted on www.vitabella.fr . In fact, there is a huge reflexion nowadays on that topic and directions taken by decision makers are not all the same. Of course, results will differ over the next few years (when we write results, we mean return on investment) but there were some very convincing ideas including a suggestion recently made by a wine fund management specialist: Buy the exclusive and underpriced Chateau d'Yquem.

Chateau d'Yquem, the next Lafite? Lunzer Wine Investments predicts rapid rise in value of investments in Chateau d'Yquem. In fact, Lunzer analyzed the impact expected on the wine investment market place less than six months since the announcement that the sweet wines of Bordeaux can be imported into China officially. This fine wine fund management specialist predicts the change means Chateau d'Yquem will become the next big winner for the wine investment market. Wine expert Peter Lunzer, who invented the concept of the Wine Price Ratio, is tipping it could even outperform the current favourite wine in China - Chateau Lafite.

"Chateau d'Yquem is probably the best known of the sweet Bordeaux wines which have not been allowed to be officially imported into China due to their large amounts of natural, residual sugar when compared to other wines which exceeded the limit set by the Chinese authorities. However, now these rules have been relaxed, we believe that demand for these sweet Bordeaux wines will skyrocket. From our experience, Chinese wine buyers have a massive appetite to acquire top quality brands so given Chateau d'Yquem's heritage, and the fact that it has a very limited production with an average of only 60,000 bottles produced each year, we believe it can only get more expensive," said Peter Lunzer, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer of Lunzer Wine Investments. Lunzer continued: "I expect the price of the good vintages - including 1990, 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2007- to double over the next few years and that this wine could challenge the high prices of other fine wines such as Chateau Lafite."

Interestingly, the 2004 remains un-scored by renowned wine critic Robert Parker and so, despite its exceptional quality, languishes below the radar. With such an interesting potential for the future, they have been including a greater than normal proportion of Chateau d'Yquem in the portfolios they have acquired for recent investors.

In May 2010, the "Liquid Gold Collection" from Chateau d'Yquem became one of the most expensive lots of wine ever sold in Asia during a Christie's auction in Hong Kong. This collection of 128 bottles and 40 magnums was the largest collection of Chateau d'Yquem ever to come to auction. In fact, if what Lunzer says proves to be right, this phenomenom will have a larger impact on the Sauternes market as a whole. Considering depreciated prices for current vintages of top Sauternes wines as well as for old vintages currently sold at auctions, there could be a strong leverage effect that could boost prices and make this market alive again, after decades of "quiet evolution". In Finance, we call it contrarian and in history some contrarians have made huge gains by investing, before others, in underrated company shares. Right time to bring a contrarian strategy into your wine portfolio holdings to boost overall performance? (More wine news on www.vitabella.fr)