In an effort to educate wine investors and to promote the sale of approved stocks of fine wines, Shanghai’s local government has put an international trading platform into place that is sure to boost fine wine investment throughout the region.
In essence, the Shanghai International Wine Exchange serves as a sophisticated internet platform whose purpose is to act as a bridge between consumers/investors and fine wine suppliers in regions like Burgundy, Bordeaux, the US, Spain and Italy. SIWE President Li Wenfeng told Decanter.com recently that this platform was put into place because, “the government understands that many Chinese wine investors have limited knowledge of fine wine.”
The SIWE will offer information to investors about fine wine investment, advice on how to filter out counterfeit wines, “a proper channel for anyone who wants to buy or sell wine to have that wine approved and to provide a healthy wine consumption culture in China.”
China Merchants Bank is cooperating with brokers to provide packages of wines for individuals that are considered high net worth, or those with assets of around $1.5 million, says Li. It will be a membership-based site that is open to both local and international investors. It is expected that negociants, wine merchants and a variety of other industry insiders will join.
Li said that, “Wines sold will need to have a trace record from Chateau to negociant and to the buyer, and wines sold en primeur will only be accepted with documentation from Chateau to negociant.” Through insurers, the government will underwrite the wines. Meanwhile, researchers will look into the provenance of the wines, working with bonded warehouses to ensure examples of paperwork.
Organizers state that the benefit of fine wine investment as conducted through the SIWE will be that it is “an absolutely reliable, non-profit-making channel for wines.” Li made it clear that, “Anything with high scores from Robert Parker is a potential investment wine” and thus certain to be included.
Tags: Asian market, Fine wine investment