Wine Investment

Would you like to be buying fine wine to enjoy in 10-20 years, but don't have the time, expertise or cellar space to do it?

Yapp Brothers' Vintage Portfolio provides the expert knowledge to select fine wine for you and to store it under ideal conditions. Our experienced buying team will build you a portfolio of fine wines that will benefit from medium to long-term cellaring and that you can liquidate as you deem fit.

How does it work?

We hold a consultation with you, to find out your wine preferences and investment goals. Depending on this discussion, we would generally buy whole cases of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône and Old-World wines that cost between £300-£1,000 per case. En Primeur wines might be added to your portfolio from time to time - these are wines that have not yet been physically bottled.

You will receive prompt notification of purchases that will also include background information on the wine and suggested time to optimum maturity.

It should be noted that the fine wine market can be volatile so, if you are looking at this opportunity as an alternative investment, we can not guarantee the likely future value of wines purchased. Needless to say, they should all make for excellent drinking.

Storage, Access & Insurance

Unless you advise otherwise, purchases will be stored in your name in temperature-controlled conditions. You will receive an annual storage certificate listing all stock held by you, as well as regular account statements, showing purchases and storage fees.

Storage is charged at £15.00 per case (or part case) per annum, which covers insurance at current retail value. A half year charge (£7.50) for July to December will be applied to wines that arrive into storage between January and June. Some wine may be purchased and stored 'in bond', which means exclusive of duty and VAT. When this wine is withdrawn from the bonded warehouse, you will be charged duty and VAT at the current rates on the original cost of the wine. Wines stored in bond will be held under an individual rotation number, separate from the firm's own stock. Our current bonded facility is with LCB, Dinton.

We are happy to arrange delivery of your wine in the UK subject to our normal delivery terms and charges. Equally, you are welcome to collect wines from us during our opening hours. We do, however, need written advice on any withdrawals and at least one week's notice of requirements.

Payment & cancellation

The minimum subscription to Vintage Portfolio is £100 per month. This can be funded either by monthly direct debit or annual lump sum payment of £1,200 in advance. There are no admin or management fees taken.
Should you wish to cancel your Vintage Portfolio subscription at any time you can do so by contacting Yapp Brothers in writing.

Next steps

If you are interested in building up a cellar of superb wine for the medium to long term that will provide huge enjoyment and may increase in value, please contact us on 01747 860423 or email vintage.portfolio@yapp.co.uk with your questions or to set up a consultation.

Vintage Portfolio FAQs

Will I receive entire (un-split) cases of wine?
Yes, except in rare instances.

How soon can I start to withdraw wine?
As soon as we have taken landed shipment of wine, subscribers to the plan can have wine delivered to private cellars, although they are by no means obliged to do so and we offer competitive storage terms.

Can I withdraw some wine but leave other cases in storage?
Yes, you can withdraw entire cases at your discretion. We will require written confirmation of withdrawals and at least one week's notice of requirements. Details of your remaining stock will then be shown on your annual storage certificate.

General Wine Investment FAQs

Why do people talk about investing in wine?
• Vintage fine wines are by nature finite. As fine wine is consumed there is less available to the market in that particular vintage, as one cannot simply produce more to satisfy demand. In very basic terms this ought to push prices upwards.
• Fine wine itself also improves with bottle-age and this ought to increase its value.
• Further, returns generated from the sale of fine wine have not normally been subject to Capital Gains Tax as, historically, wine has been considered a wasting asset.

So it is possible to make money through investing in wine?
• Yes, but it is by no means simple and there are a multitude of factors in play. It is often difficult to obtain the top wines and even more tricky to buy them at competitive prices. The sale of wine investments needs to be factored in as markets can be illiquid (no pun intended) and transaction charges (e.g. broker or auction fees) can be as high as 15-20%.
• The overall return on any investment is also affected by general economic conditions, storage costs and critics' scores (robertparker.com, jancisrobinson.com, vinous.com, jebdunnuckcom). In common with many assets, values can go up and down.
• Comparisons between returns on wine and the performance of financial instruments can be simplistic, but there is plenty of information available about past performance or current pricing – Decanter magazine or Liv-ex.com, for example.
• The wine market is unregulated so always deal with an established merchant and, if you want specific financial or tax advice, speak to a registered financial advisor.

Wine Storage

If you are storing wine it is vital that this is done correctly to avoid deterioration. The key factors that will effect stored wine are light, heat, movement and humidity.

Yapp Brothers is happy to arrange wine storage for you in temperature-controlled cellars either in Mere, Wiltshire or at our client account at LCB Dinton, Wiltshire. Both facilities provided the ideal conditions for long-term wine storage.

Wine Storage Terms and Conditions

1. General
1.1. Purchases will be stored in your name under temperature-controlled conditions.
1.2. Customer reserves are stored separately from any stock belonging to Yapp Brothers and such storage areas are clearly identified.
1.3. Separate stock records are maintained for all customer reserves.
1.4. Every case held on behalf of a customer is clearly identified in a way that asserts that customer's ownership.
1.5. Individual stock certificates are supplied annually to each customer. This should be checked on receipt and any queries brought to our attention in writing immediately. You will be deemed to have acknowledged and agreed with the content of the certificate unless you notify us to the contrary in writing within twenty eight days of the date on which you are deemed to have received it.
1.6. The wine is insured at current retail value.
1.7. Cases will only be stored as whole cases, and not as mixed cases. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for picking individual bottles from cases.

2. Charges
2.1. Our current storage charge is £15.00 per case (or part case) per year.
2.2. In the event that you take any wine out of storage within 30 days of the annual storage invoice date (normally 1st February), we will credit you the corresponding storage charge.
2.3. Wine taken out of storage after those 30 days will incur either a half year charge of £7.50 per case (if taken before 1st July) or the full year's charge (if taken after 1st July).
2.4. If a wine arrives into storage before 1st July, you will be charged £7.50 per case to cover the remainder of the year. If the wine arrives after 1st July, no storage charge will be applied for that year.
2.5. Outstanding storage charges must be settled before wine can be released from storage.

3. Access, Delivery & Delivery Charges
3.1. No wines will be removed from customer reserves except on the written instructions of the account holder (email or fax are acceptable). We require at least one week's notice of withdrawals.
3.2. In the case of joint accounts we will accept, rely and act on written instructions given by one of the named customers.
3.3. We are happy to arrange delivery of your wine in the UK subject to our normal delivery terms and charges. This usually means that delivery to UK mainland home addresses is free of charge. Equally, you are welcome to collect wines from us during our opening hours. All deliveries will require a signature at the destination.
3.4. We hold customers' In bond stock at London City Bond, in Dinton near Salisbury. In bond transfers within and outside of LCB are charged at £15 per case up to 2 cases, £5 per case thereafter. All charges must be paid before the transfer request is actioned. You will also need to advise us of account / warehouse details for the transfer.

4. Duty and VAT
4.1. When wine that has been held in bond is withdrawn from a bonded warehouse, you will be charged duty and VAT at the prevailing rates on the original cost of the wine.
4.2. The current duty rate is £26.76 per case and the VAT rate is 20%. Therefore, the current duty and VAT on a £200 case of wine withdrawn from bond would be £72.11. (n.b. you pay VAT on the cost of the wine including duty).

5. Conversion clause
5.1. In the event that unpaid storage charges exceed our estimate of the sale value of the stored wine, we will exercise our right to sell the wine (having first served you notice of this course of action at your last known address) and off-set any sale costs and amounts due to Yapp Brothers from the proceeds.