In the world of wine, the Internet has drastically changed the business and landscape for a lot of industries and manufacturers. Retails and wineries alike are using the Internet to sell their unique wine to the public, reaching more people than they ever could before. For the public, the Internet provides a lot of options for buying or even selling wine.

The key to selling wine is knowing the conditions of the bottle, such as how it was stored, how old it is, and the price you are asking for the wine. Age worthy wines are normally the best selling, as they all have one thing in common – all can be held for quite a long time. These types of wines are high in demand, some dating back to the 1940s. They are still selling strong today, some even going for an high as $5,000 dollars a bottle! If you have any bottles of age worthy wines, you should hang on to them for as long as you can – then sell them for a hefty profit.

Vintage Port is one of the best age worthy wines. Being a fortified wine, Vintage Port brands can age for nearly 100 years or more. The big names include Taylor Fladgate and Fonseca, among others. Port wine is very popular these days, with people buying and selling it to rake in the profits. As long as you take care of the bottles and store them properly, they can bring in a lot of money.

Fine Italian wine is also great to have, as they are normally bought and sold online. You can store these types of wine for several years, as they still provide great taste. Top California Cabernet is another type of wine that sells great, although it can be hard to get. If you buy the right type of Top California wine, you can sell it for 2 – 3 times the price you paid for the bottle.

If you are looking to sell wine, online auctions are a great place to start. By using an online auction, you can list your wine that you are selling, and get the current prices on wines that you are thinking of selling as well. If you look around on the Internet, you can find some great auction web sites that will allow you to sell wine. There are several out there, giving you plenty to choose from. When you find one that you like, make sure that you look at the prices and how things work – before you decide to use it to sell your wine.

Another great place to go online are wine message boards. Most wine message boards offer a buying and selling area as well. Almost all message boards are free to join, although you should become active with your postings to gain trust on the boards. Members of the boards sell their wines to each other. Selling is done privately, which eliminates any type of transaction fee.

Proper storage is also important when selling wine. Not only for the seller, but the buyer as well. In order to sell wine, the wine needs to be stored properly, with the proper temperature. If it isn’t, the wine will be nothing but mere vinegar once it is opened up.

All things aside, wine can be a very profitable hobby, providing you do things right. If you have a passion for wine and a passion to succeed – selling wine can be very profitable. When selling wine, you should always put quality first. Money will come with time – although you should always think about the quality of the wine – and not just the dollars and cents.

Scientific research suggests that this French Paradox may in part be due to the red wine that the French are so fond of, and specifically, to its content of a compound called Resveratrol.

Plants produce Resveratrol as a defence against microbial, viral or other environmental attacks. In humans however, its main role is in the cardiovascular system. In particular it appears to be beneficial in the prevention and management of atherosclerosis (the accumulation of plaque in the arteries,  which is a risk factor in the development of heart disease and stroke.

Resveratrol acts in a number of ways that inhibit the development of atherosclerotic plaque, including: Reducing oxidative damage to LDL-cholesterol molecules (this is one of the early steps in plaque development).

Maintaining the tone of the blood vessels so that they remain relaxed and open (rather than stiffened and narrowed), and thus helping to maintain healthy blood flow, Reducing the tendency of platelets to stick together, and therefore helping to reduce the likelihood of blood clots forming.

To enjoy all these benefits of Resveratrol, you could do as the French do, and enjoy a little red wine on a daily basis. Sadly though, modern agricultural practices have led to the decline of Resveratrol levels in wine, and today red wine may contain as little as 1-3 milligrams per litre, or just 150-450 micrograms per standard 150 mL glass.

Other dietary sources (including peanuts, and berries such as blueberries, bilberries, cranberries and mulberries) also supply only small amounts of Resveratrol.

However, the richest source of Resveratrol of all is the root of the herb Polygonum cuspidatum (knotweed), which is used as a blood tonic in traditional Chinese medicine. Taken in tablet form, a daily dose of 250 mg of Resveratrol from P. cuspidatum provides around as much of this potent antioxidant as you”d obtain from more than 500 glasses of red wine. But without the hangover!

Alternatively, Resveratrol is also available in a tablet form and can be found in most health stores and pharmacies. Thompson”s, a leading nutritional brand offers the highest strength of Resveratrol in their highly potent product Ultra Strength Resveratrol, which provides 125mg of Resveratrol per tablet, combined with nutrients vitamin C and bioflavoids.

Think that you aren’t sophisticated enough or don’t fit in the right income bracket to enjoy wine-tasting? Think again. These tips will help you fake your way through a wine-tasting session – or develop a lifelong Epicurean hobby (the finest pleasures, not the most!).

Supplies – All you really need is a good wine glass, some wine, and preferably some good company.

Glasses – Obviously if you are at a wine-tasting party or tasting the wares at a winery you won’t be bringing your own glass (or wine, for that!), but when you decide that it is time to get your own wine glasses first look for a clear glass (you definitely want to be able to see the color, especially as a beginner). Your glass should curve in a bit at the top so you can swirl it without spilling. Some companies try to sell glasses that are supposedly matched to certain wine types, but taste-tests have shown that people rarely prefer wine from it’s matching glass. Instead, a good hand blown crystal glass is often preferred.

Wines – There is way too much that could be said about different varieties of wines than this article could cover. Nevertheless, we’ll try to cover some basic categories of wines and distinct varietals that you might come across. The two main types of wine are red and white. Red wines are made from black grapes fermented with skins and pips. Red wine can be dry or sweet.

Some of the more well known reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese. These names refer to the types of grapes which the wines are made from, and there are about 40 major types of grapes used for red wine. Wine regions have standards as to what percentage of a wine must be a single sort of grape to be classified by that grape used for its creation – in California it must be 75% while in Alsace it must be 100%.

Many wines, however, are a combination of different varietals, the term which refers to a single grape wine. White wines can be made from either white or black grapes. There are over 50 major white grapes grown round the world, the three most important of which are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. White wine is usually considered to be more refreshing than red wine.

There are a number of other wine types. Pink wines include Blush types and Rose (pronounced row-zay). Blush originated in California and is usually made using Zinfandel grapes with the peels left in for a time and then removed. Rose, while in processing is actually an unfinished red, but in taste is refreshing like a white with some of the flavors of a red.

Sparkling wines and Champagne are sometimes produced by the same method, but only those made in the north of France are technically Champagne. Sparkling wines are created by adding yeast and sugar to table wine. The so called Methode Champenoise, also known as the Classic Method, is painstaking, and cheaper bubbly is usually mass-produced using a slightly different method. There are a few types of “desert wines”. Port starts a as a wine fermented from 40 or so types of grapes.

The must is poured off after a short period of fermentation and then the young wine is re-barreled for a year or two before being bottled. Port usually requires 15-20 years of bottle aging and then it is a sweet, fortified wine often taken with cheese and nuts. Madeira is fortified with alcohol and then heated, either artificially or by storing in a hot attic. Originally, Madeira was created by being shipped – you know, back in the day when shipping meant in the hull of a ship – through the tropics, where it was heated. Sherry is a blended wine that is also fortified. Extra room is left in the barrel and a special yeast is addec.

Fruit wines are fermented from any other fruit than grapes. Common fruits used include raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, blueberries, or cherries. Fruit wines have a monster-sized taste, partly due to the large amount of fruit used to create them. They are usually fermented in cold conditions, which helps keep the natural fruit flavors (nobody likes rotten fruit…). Fruit wines are especially good with dessert and are sometimes used in sautéing or other cooking. Other supplies.

As for the company, if you’re in the United States, make sure everyone is over 21. Laws are getting tougher on people who supply underage kids with alcohol – so even if you are a parent, if you supply a minor with alcohol, you may be held responsible if they are hurt or hurt someone else. If you are hosting a wine-tasting party, there are a some more supplies that you will need to have.

Be sure to have water available for people who get thirsty. Snacks are important. Provide snacks that either compliment the wines or cleanse the palette. Snacks also help insure that people won’t become intoxicated. There are a number of different types of tasting parties, some of which will be quite expensive, but which could also be as cheap as $15 per person. If you’re going to serve dinner, wait until after the tasting session.

Tasting Technique – Some of you out there might be asking, “What technique can there be to tasting something? Put it in your mouth and taste it!” First of all, you’re right. There are some wine snobs who will say that there isn’t much point in drinking some wines, and they’ll point to rating guides saying that you should drink wine with a certain rating to cultivate your taste for fine wines…

Drink wine that you like, not what other people tell you that you ought to like. Hopefully this guide will help you decide what you like. However, if you are getting into wine-tasting I am guessing that you desire to learn more about one of the finer pleasures in life – if you’re drinking to get drunk, there are faster or cheaper ways to do it than wine-tasting. That said, there are three stages to wine-tasting: Look, smell, and taste.

Look – Pour yourself a small amount of wine, perhaps an inch or so. Hold your glass up to the light or against a white background and observe the color. Red wines can be lighter or pale reds, but they also range to brownish reds. White wines are usually greenish or brownish and typically gain color with age. The tint observed at the “rim” allows expert tasters to judge the age of the wine – a purplish rim might be a younger wine while older wine usually has an orange or brown rim tint. Swirl the wine and see what sort of body the wine has. Also called the “legs”, body refers to the viscosity. A more mature wine will have more body.

Smell – Swirl the wine and hold your glass to your nose. Some tasters prefer taking on deep whiff while others will take a small whiff for the impression followed by a deeper impression. Either way, pause to get a good impression of the smell before moving on to the actual tasting stage. The aroma, also called the “nose” or “bouquet”, should remind you of things that you might smell in nature. The smell usually correlates with the taste, and wines might smell fruity, or earthy, or woody, or spicy, or any number of combination of things.

Try closing your eyes and imagining yourself someplace else – perhaps in the middle of an outdoor market. What is it that this wine’s smell makes you think you might be standing near? Most good wines have a pleasant flavor in both smell and taste, though some wines – even some good ones – don’t really have a nose at all.

Taste – Take a sip and swish it round your mouth – front to back and side to side, and you might even want to breath in a bit. While your taste buds aren’t really separated out on different areas of your tongue, swishing helps you utilize all of your taste buds. The initial taste may be a bit different than the overall impression you get after swishing, and another important aspect of taste is the aftertaste.

In France they even have a rating system for aftertaste – if the aftertaste lasts for 1 second, it is given 1 caudalie 2 seconds is given 2 caudalie, and so on. Highly rated wines often leave the strongest and longest aftertaste. Balance is the key to the taste of a wine. The four main components to the taste of a wine are sweetness, acidity, tannin, and alcohol content. If the wine is unbalanced in one of these areas it will be noticeable. The sweetness will probably be the first thing that you notice about the taste – especially if it is particularly sweet or particularly bitter. To think about acidity, consider the difference between drinking milk, water, orange juice, and grapefruit juice.

Acidity makes the wine taste crisp, but it is overly acidic it will have a bit too much of punch. Tannin can also be a bitter sort of a flavor and it comes from stalks and skins of red grapes. Tannin is present in strong black tea and are most notable in young wines. The tannin flavor tends to mellow as wine ages. Alcohol content will make the wine range from a sweet flavor to the fire taste that accompanies higher alcohol content. Another characteristic to consider when tasting a wine are to feel the body of the wine in your mouth. Is it more or less viscous? Think about the fruitiness of the wine and try to compare different wine flavors to different fruits. What is the overall impression of the wine?

Do you like it initially or not? There are times when tasters will spit out the wine that they are tasting instead of swallowing. Typically this is only done when tasting a very large number wines, or if you happen to be a professional tester or are participating in a wine review of some sort, in which case, keeping a clear and level head may be important.

Note taking – I know none of us want to go back to high school, but taking notes is beneficial to all wine-lovers, not just professional tasters. Having a collection of notes on different types of wines can help you select a good wine at a restaurant, or bring a good wine home to have when you invite the boss over for dinner. There are some particular methods of note-taking for wine-tasting, and some websites or books offer questionnaires that can be used to evaluate wines.

There are special terms that some wine-tasters use, but especially at first, simply writing down things that the wine flavor or aroma remind you of might be the best that you can do. Write down your reactions to the various stages of testing – look, smell, and taste. Recording your overall impression is important – if you don’t like a wine, you can try a different one the next time. Perhaps write down some foods that you think that particular wine would be good with, and then you can check back in your notes when deciding what to serve with a particular dinner.

Wine Etiquette – There are a few things that you ought to know before serving wine, and likewise there are also a few bits of etiquette that you would do well to know before attending a wine-tasting event.

Serving wine – The right temperature for serving wine varies from wine to wine, and different people prefer different wines at different temperatures. Generally, folks prefer red wines around 65 degrees F, white or Rose wines closer to 55 degrees, and Champagne or sparkling wines are generally preferred around a chill 45 degrees F. Each variety of wine tastes a little different at different temperatures.

You might want to include in your notes what temperature you taste wines at. To chill the wine, fill a bucket with ice and cover the ice with water. Submerge the bottle in the bucket. To go from room temperature to the proper temperature, put red wine in for about 5 minutes, white wine for 10 minutes, and Champagne for 15 minutes. Some people (not wine snobs, usually) even toss an ice cube or two in a glass of wine to chill it quickly. Spend a minute learning how to pop the cork properly. Don’t bend it. Pour the cork out with a about an ounce of wine to remove any debris from the cork and to check the wine out.

Some folks prefer to decant the wine to remove any other particles that have settled out of the wine. Keep in mind also that it is usually recommended to allow red wines to “breathe” for an hour or so before serving. Breathing the wine for two long, however, will cause the wine to taste dull and flat When pouring, don’t touch the bottle neck to the glass and hold the bottle around the body instead of the neck. You can hold a napkin below the neck to catch dripping if you prefer. Fill the glass to no more than two-thirds full, though preferably to only about half full.

If there is leftover wine and you can’t convince anyone to finish it off, you can save what wine is left, but don’t just re-cork the bottle. Find a small container – small to the point where the wine might be overflowing from it (perhaps a small, 375 mL wine bottle). In fact, when you close the container, whether with a cork or a plug or a lid of some sort, there should be a little bit of spillover. Because the main issue with saving wine is keeping it away from oxygen, doing this will prevent oxidation from happening. Store this container in the refrigerator and it should keep for about a week without becoming to stale.

Whether you are a beginning winemaker or you have been making wine for some time and have experienced some problems, it is important to understand the most common mistakes made in winemaking so you can learn how to avoid them.

By far, the most common problem in most winemaking failures can be attributed to equipment that is inadequate. Many people make the mistake of using common household items for their winemaking because they seem to be familiar to the carboys, spoons and air locks that are required for the process. It is important to note; however, that specific winemaking equipment is constructed of special materials. Using products made from other materials can have an impact on your finished wine.

In general, it is a mistake to attempt to reuse products that have previously held other items, especially foods. While you may believe that the container is clean, too frequently food odors will have become immersed into the plastic and as a result your wine may become tainted. In addition, it is not a good idea to use even brand new plastic pails due to the fact that the UV protectants that are used in the plastic could leak into the wine. It is far better to go ahead and invest the money necessary to purchase proper winemaking equipment so that you can be certain of the success of your wine.

Failing to follow instructions is another common mistake. The process for making wine may seem to some beginning winemakers to be complicated. As a result, there usually exists a strong urge to simplify the process. This is generally a mistake. If you are an experienced cook, you probably understand the necessity to follow the directions of a recipe. Veering from the recipe usually results in disaster. The same is true in winemaking.

The quality of your water can also impact the quality of your wine. Hard water or water that has a high mineral content can result in wine that has flavors that are somewhat off or even have somewhat of a haze. It is also important to know that water from a salt-exchange water softener should not be used for winemaking. To be certain of the best quality wine, it is usually best to use bottled water for your winemaking. The difference in the results will certainly be appreciable.

Proper yeast handling is also essential. Have you ever made homemade bread? Yeast must be moistened at the proper temperature in order to become activated. If the temperature is too cold, the yeast will fail to activate. If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast. This is because yeast is a living organism and it must be handled properly for success. As a result it is imperative to make sure that you maintain proper temperature control during the fermentation process. Ideally, it is best to try to maintain a temperature between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Be certain the temperature remains consistent. If the temperature in your fermentation area is too cool, the formation process will take too long, which can lead to excess fizz in your wine.

Another common mistake is eliminating the sulfite in the wine. The most common reason for this is sulfite allergies. It is true that some people are allergic to sulfites; however, it is important to point out that even if you eliminate the sulfite from the wine the wine will still not be completely sulfite free due to the fact that the yeast always creates additional sulfites anyway. The purpose of the sulfites is to prevent spoiling and oxidation. In less than a month the wine will begin to taste somewhat off and in less than three months it will be rendered practically undrinkable.

Finally, make sure that you give your wine the proper amount of patience and time that it requires. Successful winemaking truly is an art form. In order to appreciate the results of your labor it really is best to wait the amount of time necessary for the wine to improve before you attempt to drink it. In far too many cases, beginner winemakers have believed they had a bad batch of wine when the problem was that they were trying to drink it too soon. Be patient and wait and you will appreciate the effort.

There is quite a discussion on going right now about the best wine health facts and what may or may not be true regarding wine consumption, and specifically, the antioxidant resveratrol. Although there are many positive benefits from wine, it is important to understand that proper consumption is the biggest rule, and overconsumption typically has the opposite affect that those described here.

If you are going to consume one to two alcoholic beverages per day, the daily recommended amount of alcohol intake, most people in the medical profession will agree that going with a glass of red wine is recommended.

Red wine contains antioxidants, primarily the controversial Resveratrol. Resveratrol is thought to have many amazing benefits, including lowering the risk of cancer cell growth and lowering the risk of cancer tumor growth. This research has been proven so far in rats and not humans, but researchers are working to see if the benefits correlate to their human patients.

It doesn’t stop with potential cancer benefits, some of the best wine health facts actually come from the amazing benefits it brings to cardiovascular health. An adequate red wine intake (one to two glass of red wine per day) has been proven to strengthen the walls of the blood vessels and to act as a blood thinner.

These tremendous benefits cause your risk of heart disease, stroke, and blood clots to go down, which has had a significant impact on the research of heart disease. Not only that, but Resveratrol found in red wine also is thought the lower the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood stream, which is usually a problem people have to take costly medications to control. It can also increase your good cholesterol, which is difficult medically, and is typically just controlled through diet.

There are other less publicized benefits to red wine consumption and Resveratrol, which are yet to be proven in the medical community, but are gaining a reputation through animal testing. Wine consumption is thought to potentially increase bone density, a problem that primarily impacts middle aged women.

It is known to be an anti-inflammatory, which has a number of benefits. Most people who are using Resveratrol for anti-inflammatory purposes report that they not only feel younger because they move around more comfortably, but they also look younger as well! Resveratrol through wine consumption may also reduce the growth of kidney stones.

Many people also believe that it increases memory. This may be due to the possibility that it allows nerve cells to grow, which is why medical researchers in the areas of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are also interested in the benefits of wine consumption.

So while it is still in the research phase, wine consumption at this stage is recommended in moderation, and researchers are seeing more and more benefits that they hope will improve the health of millions of people who suffer from debilitating diseases. For more of the best wine health facts, you should consult your medical professional to make sure you are making the best

Abstract: This article presents three arguments as to why the value of wine as an investment good has typically been understated and argues that wine investment represents a good value proposition. It is argued that general all vintage wine indexes understate the return the typical investor receives; that comparisons using pre-tax returns overstate the value of standard financial assets relative to wine; and that wine investment provides good value in term

1. INTRODUCTION

Broadly speaking, the return to wine literature suggests that wine investment is not a profitable activity. See Fogarty  for a summary table outlining details of the return to wine literature. The work presented in this article shows that the existing literature has understated the potential value of wine investment.

It is argued here that the value of wine as an investment good has been understated for the following reasons. Firstly, as the quality of any given vintage of wine is largely known in advance, wine investors will not invest in poor quality vintages. This means a wine price index based on the return to all vintages of wine understates the return achieved by the typical wine investor.

As the asset return comparisons made in the literature are typically made using the return to an all vintage wine index, these comparisons understate the return achieved by the typical wine investor.

Secondly, in certain countries, the returns to wine are generally not taxed, while the returns to standard financial assets are taxed.

As the comparisons of asset returns typically made in the literature are comparisons of pre-tax returns, these comparisons understate the value of wine investment.

Thirdly, the appropriate framework for assessing the value of wine as an investment class is not a comparison of the risk-return profile of wine compared to other asset classes, but rather an assessment of the role wine can play in expanding the Markowitz (1952) Investment Efficient Frontier.

Even if the return to wine is lower than standard financial assets and the risk higher, if including wine in an investment portfolio reduces portfolio risk, wine should be considered a worthwhile investment class.

This paper proceeds as follows. Section two explores and comments on some of the specific extra costs incurred by those investing in wine. Section three discusses in detail the three reasons proposed for believing the existing literature has understated the potential benefits to wine investment, and presents examples that illustrate the points made.

2. SOME WINE SPECIFIC COSTS

Those considering wine investment face a number of costs that are peculiar to wine

investment. The most obvious of these costs are storage costs, but transaction costs when

trading wine are also slightly higher than the transaction costs involved when trading standard financial assets:

Wine must be kept in a cool, humid, and preferably dark location where daily temperature fluctuations are minimal. For those without a wine cellar, which is most people, there are several options: have a purpose built cellar excavated; install one or more climate and humidity controlled wine cabinets; or use and pay for commercial storage at a purpose built wine storage facility.

The best wine brokerages will offer an inclusive storage cost investment, which negates the main cost factor in relation to the overall investment package. Obviously these firms are the ones to deal with rather than those that do not offer this, as clearly there is a higher ROI.

Yet despite these extra costs, this paper argues that wine can still represent a good, valuable addition to an investment portfolio. The reasons for this are explored in detail in the next section.

3. THREE REASONS FOR RECONSIDERING THE VALUE OF WINE INVESTMENT

Proposition One: Quality vintages can be identified in advance and people considering wine investment hold only quality vintages.

Although work presented in relatively recent times has formalized the relationship between weather and wine quality (Ashenfelter et al., 1995; Byron and Ashenfelter, 1995; De Vittorioand Ginsburgh, 1996) in a way that economics professionals can understand, the basic weather conditions that lead to good wine have long been known by viticulturalists. See for example Gladstone (1992) for historical, technical, and statistical details on wine and climatic conditions.

Yet even those who have never picked up viticulture textbook or a wine economics paper know wine quality varies between vintages. It is, for example, inconceivable that anyone interested in wine investment would not be aware 2005 was a great vintage in Bordeaux, just as it is equally impossible for someone to not know 1998 was a great vintage in Australia’s Barossa Valley and Goonawarra region.

The popular press does report on exceptional vintages, but more generally, those interested in wine understand that quality varies between vintages, and because they know quality varies each year, they use vintage charts to inform their wine purchasing decisions.

For Australian wine there are vintage charts and wine ratings such as those of:

Langton’s – from renowned wine critic(s) Jeremy Oliver, author of the Australia Wine Annual; and James Halliday, author of the Australian Wine Companion.

Investors undoubtedly also consult a vintage chart before making the decision to invest in a particular vintage. The ratings provided by Australian critics are highly regarded.

The existence of vintage charts alone does not justify moving away from a general wine price index to one based on select vintages. It is only reasonable to move to a select vintage wine index because vintage chart information is published substantially in advance of when the wine is available for sale. In this sense the equity market and the wine market are fundamentally different.

When a company lists on the stock exchange there is much uncertainty about its future profitability. Whether the management team has the skills to generate above average results is largely unknown. When a wine first appears in the secondary market there is very little uncertainty about whether the wine is above average, below average, or merely average. The quality of the vintage is largely determined by the weather conditions prevailing that year. As fine wine is sold some years after the grapes have been harvested, the wine bottled, and the vintage charts published, the quality of any given vintage is known prior to purchase. All but the most determinedly ignorant of wine investors will not invest in bad vintages. As such, in the case of wine, the return to a general wine index understates the return the average investor is likely to receive.

It is worth noting that there is no wine investment advice in published or on-line sources that suggests holding an investment portfolio of all wine vintages. Wine investment decisions and or recommendations, are always discussed with respect to each particular vintage. This feature of the wine market appears not to be reflected in the return to wine literature.

For shares and bonds, it is however appropriate to use, for comparison purposes, the return to an appropriately defined broad market total return index. Ensuring above average performance over the longer term, for most investors, is simply not possible.

Were it possible to consistently achieve above average returns, active fund managers would consistently outperform the market. Yet as Sharpe (1991, p. 7) explains, the return to the market is the weighted average of the return to the active and passive segments of the market, and as the passive return equals the market return, the average return to an actively managed fund must also equal the market return. Empirical work generally supports the idea that the return to active fund management, once fees are taken into consideration, is no better than the market return, and may be noticeably worse. (Frino and Gallagher, 2001; Gallagher and Jarnecic, 2002).

Proposition Two: Investors are concerned with after-tax returns not pre-tax returns. In general, the returns to wine are generally not taxed. Comparisons made using pre-tax returns will therefore understate the attractiveness of wine to potential investors.

If someone is deemed to be trading wine as an on-going dedicated business

activity, the income derived from capital gains on the sale of wine are treated as income and are taxable. For most people the capital gains from the sale of wine will fall under the collectables exemption to capital gains tax, and so profits on the sale of wine are not taxed.

This is not the case for the return to shares and bonds. Dividend payments generally attract franking credits that, depending on the marginal tax rate faced by the investor, offset part or all of the individual’s tax liability.

Capital gains on share holdings are, however, subject to capital gains tax. There are no tax concessions associated with holding bonds, although actual tax rates will vary according to the proportion of the returns that are capital gains and the proportion that represent an income stream.

Although investors are primarily concerned with after-tax returns, discussions on investment returns generally take place in terms of pre-tax returns. That the tax circumstances of individuals vary markedly is the likely reason discussion focuses primarily on pre-tax returns.

Yet, tax affects the return to each asset class differently.

With respect to standard financial assets, taxation substantially reduces the return received by the investor. In comparison the return to wine is generally not taxed. As such, it is important comparisons of the risk-return profile of wine, compared to standard financial assets, be made using after-tax returns. Comparisons made using pre-tax returns systematically understate the value of wine investment.

CONCLUSION

Ever since Krasker (1979) first posed the question of whether wine should be saved or savored, the main theme of the return to wine literature has been to say wine should be savored and not saved. This paper has argued that the true value of wine as an investment good has generally been understated because: (i) quality vintages can be identified in advance and investors hold only quality vintages; (ii) wine investment generally enjoys a special tax status in these countries; and (iii) including wine in an investment portfolio allows portfolio risk to be reduced. Wine should always be savoured, but those who choose to both save and savour wine may be making a wise decision afterall.

Wine experts say that the biggest threat to wine is heat and light. You have many Wine Storage options to choose from to properly to store your wine and to protect the quality of it.

One of the best Wine Storage areas is a Wine Cellar Storage. This would provide the wine with the best conditions to mature in. Unfortunately many people to not have access to this type of a facility.

Apart from these conditions, wine should be stored at an accessible area where you can easily get a bottle if you get unexpected visitors. Wine stored on top of the fridge where conditions keep on fluctuating is not a good storage place because it will cause harm to your wine even though it is an inexpensive way to store it.

Proper wine storage is important especially if you intend to resell it later. Preservation is the key and is very important for you and your business and utmost care needs to be taking for the same.

Another great way to store your collection in a Dual Zone Wine Refrigerator.  Another great way to store your collection in a Dual Zone Wine Refrigerator.  It can keep your wine at the perfect temperature so it will be ready to serve you and your guests at anytime.  You can get more information on Dual Zone Wine Refrigerator by clicking on the links at the bottom of this article.

Old wine is very expensive to buy. If you store your wine properly, you can enjoy it later on without spending too much. For instance if you want to purchase a bottle of Château La Mondotte Saint-Emilio 1996 you would probably spend over $600. If you store that wine properly you can sell it for a good profit in a number of years.

A proper wine storage facility does not have to be very fancy. It can be located anywhere as long as it provides the appropriate conditions for your wine.  It can be located anywhere as long as it provides the appropriate conditions for your wine.  You can even use a Hanging Wine Rack.

It is very important that the right kind of protections is in place to avoid any kind of harm to the wine and hence the storage is one of the most important things that you need to keep in mind, which is very important. If you are not sure how things are to be done then you need to take help of a professional who could help you in guidance about the proper storage.

You can find good information on the Internet for the different types and costs of wine storage options.  So protect your investment and enjoy your wine collection well into the future with the proper wine storage.

Over the years, wine consumption has become more and more popular. With more and more money going into wine both as an investment and for later consumption, the history of the wine will always be in question. With this in mind, many people often wonder how they can properly store their wine and take care of it at the same time.

How you store your wine is extremely important. If you store it right it can lead to euphoria, while if you store it wrong it can lead to depression. When you tear into a bottle of wine that has properly been stored, it can be glorious indeed, while tearing into bottle of poorly stored wine can be quite the letdown. Often times, drinking a bottle of wine that was poorly stored is much like drinking vinegar.

To properly store wine, you”ll need to meet several factors, such as humidity, temperature, lighting, the cleanliness of your storage area, the angle of the bottle while it is stored, and the vibration of the bottle on the rack. The temperature is the most important, as you should keep it around 50 degrees at all times. This way, the lower temperature can help to age the wine. If there are any fluctuations in the temperature, you should make sure that it happens slowly. As long as the temperature doesn’t go to high and it fluctuates slowly, your wine should be ok.

The proper level of humidity for storing wine should be around 70%, although it is perfectly accepted to keep it 10% above or below the 70% level. If you have too high of a humidity temperature, the labels can easily rot or mold, which can affect the wine’s value. On the other hand, if the humidity gets too low, around 50%, the cork could shrink and bring air into the wine, which would ruin it in little to no time at all.

The angle that wine is stored is important as well. If the wine stays in contact with the cork during storage, the cork won’t dry out. If the wine doesn’t stay in contact with the cork, the cork could dry out and allow air into the wine. You should also strive to keep the wine out of the light, as light can ruin any type of wine. Light causes the wine to age prematurely, making it in your best interest to store wine in a dark location.

To prevent damage to the wine from sediment, you should also store wine in a location that is free of vibration. If you store wine in places that are free from vibration, it will give the sediment in the bottle ample time to settle. Vibrations are never a good thing for wine, as the sediment becomes unsettled and can ruin the wine or shake it to the point where it tastes horrible.

To protect the quality and investment of your wine, storage and care is very important. Storing it in a proper location will also bring the best taste. In the world of wine, nothing is more disappointing than waiting several years to open a bottle of fine wine, only to find that it is nothing but vinegar. You can prevent this from happening though, by taking care of your wine. Wine isn’t hard to care for or store, it just takes the right conditions and location. Everyone loves some fine wine every now and then – which is why storage and care is so very important these days.

Wine tasters are the specialists who taste the wine to define its quality. Based on certain criteria, they use the taste buds to differentiate between the fine wine and the others. The wines are graded on the basis of the inputs of these experienced wine tasters. The wine tasters are well valued by the people who buy wine in bulk and especially during the special times of wine auction.

Their services are used by the top importers, retailers and other buyers of the fine wine.

The tasters are required to travel to the vineyards where the ‘en primeur’ are held. This is a type of wine auction where the wines are sold out even while these are in the caskets, not yet bottled. These are usually the wines which are still some years away from being bottled. Tasting these immature wines to determine their quality some years hence is a work of art which is handled by very experienced tasters.

Based on their tasting, the buyers buy wine which could be quite a heavy deal. The other times when the wine tasters are required are when the wines have to be introduced in the market by the importers.

So, if you import the European wines and would like to market these to the different buyers or retailers in your country or region, you might organize a wine tasting event which could be an advertisement of the arrival of the new wines as well as make the prospective buyers to buy wine which they like, mostly through an auction system. So, how is delicate but crucial work accomplished by the wine tasters?

1. Look of the wine: It is the usual practice to hold the wine with a little tilt of the glass against a white background to check the colour of the wine. The colour of the white wine ranges from green to yellow to brown. The look also tells the age of the wine. Most of the red wines get better with time and as they age they become lighter in colour. The white wines do carry an expiry date and as they age towards expiry they get the brownish overtones.

When you keep the glass of the european Wines tilted in front of the white background, its rim colour needs to be observed. Purplish look gives the youthful experience whereas the shades of orange or brown appear in a mature wine.

2. Smell of Wine: This is yet another way to determine the quality of wine. Just swirl the wine a little and release its molecules, smell the same and check what types of aromas come out of the wine. You can take a quick or deep whiff of the same. Sometimes, the wine smell is strong and it will take some time to get that off your nostrils before smelling the other one. So, you must take your time for this.

3. Taste of the wine: Actually, you will have to rate the wine for the balance between the sweetness and the acidity factors.

So, fine wine tasting involves not just tasting but also the look and smell of the wine before wine buy activity.