Bottled Blue Chips
By Natalie MacLean

Even though his family dynasty was built on banking, Baron Philippe de Rothschild would never have stooped to trading his wines like pork bellies. Back then, wine was collected for pleasure, not profit. The buying and selling of wine like stocks, art, horses or jewelry, is a more recent phenomenon. If you were one of those far-sighted people who invested $2,200 in top-tier Bordeaux wines in August 1997, you would have reaped a windfall. Five years later, your purchase cashed in at $3,850–more than twice the investment yield in blue chip stocks, according to the British merchants Farr Vintners. Furthermore, the stellar 1982 vintage yielded even greater returns. A case of Château Margaux bought for $750 on release is now worth $12,000, and Château Pétrus jumped from $3,685 to $29,525. Even New World wines command huge premiums. A bottle of 1993 Screaming Eagle, a California cult cabernet, cost US$75 when released in 1996 currently sells for US$1,600.

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