Cult Wines' Tom Gearing: My Top Ten Tips for Investing in Fine Wine

(IBTimes) - With investors increasingly looking away from the traditional investment classes for diversification and to generate low volatile, stable long term gains, fine wine has come into the spotlight.

For most investors however the world of fine wine is a daunting place. Whilst the benefits and returns are clear, harnessing them is trickier.

So in order to help the intrepid investor, I have put together a list of my top tips in order to get the most out of the market.

1. Focus on buying from best estates from the old world regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian, Rhone and Champagne for the best returns.

Bordeaux Grand Cru Classés account for the largest part of the investment grade market for fine wine (c 75%) and is traditionally where most collectors and investors should focus.

The top Bordeaux estates such as the first growth wines; Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Haut Brion and Margaux, have long been the most tradable and in-demand wines on the secondary market. With production levels of c. 15,000 cases per annum they offer the investment market the right balance between sufficient availability and limited supply.

Away from Bordeaux there has been increasing demand from the emerging markets for the top wines from Burgundy, Italy, Rhone and Champagne, which has seen strong price appreciation.