Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is Glassic Wine?
Glassic Wine Limited is a personal fine wine consultant established by certified professionals and industry insiders. We help our clients tailor and actively manage wine portfolios to provide high returns with low volatility, risk diversification and a safe capital haven, for both collection and investment.
Why Glassic Wine?
We know how difficult it is to preserve wealth in a financial crisis. That is why we provide a solution – an asset class that continues to perform well even in times of uncertainty.
Benefiting from our powerful analytic tools and exclusive network of global suppliers, our clients are exposed to the best investment opportunities. The whole journey is operated by our certified specialists so that clients can enjoy steady wealth expansion with minimal efforts.
Fine Wine as an Investment
Why can we profit from wine investment?
The inherent price driver is the Supply-Demand Dynamic.
Firstly, the supply is limited due to legal vineyard regulations, growing season weather variance, global warming, and gradual decrease by consumption over time.
Secondly, global demand is overwhelming, because of improved quality by ageing, rising awareness & wealth in Asia, and an increase in millennial interest.
The reducing supply combined with growing demand drives the prices up and creates an investment opportunity.
What is the return on investment (ROI)?
Based on our experience and in-depth knowledge of the wine market with plentiful historical data, long-term investment in wine is expected to generate in average 8 % - 14% annual return with relatively more minor growths in the early years and more significant increases over time.
We want to put specials remarks that historical returns are no guarantee of future returns, and returns in practice might deviate from expectations. We draw your attention to the fact that the returns on investment in wine could be negative.
How to select which wines to invest?
In principle, Investment Grade Wines (IGW) are not something you can buy in supermarkets. Only vintages of top wines rated by wine critics, with proven ageing potential from established and reputable producers are suitable for investment. Therefore quality IGW only accounts for less than 0.1% of global production. In addition, investment wines must be kept in perfect condition in whole cases with proof of provenance.
When it comes to portfolio building, our specialists will analyse a group of factors to determine the best suitable wines for the portfolio. Factors include millions of historical data points, current price levels, liquidity, critics scores, and the risk to return ratio (Sharpe ratio).
Do I need to be a wine expert in order to invest?
No. As wine specialists, we are here to empower you while you enjoy your drinks.
Wine investment has historically been limited to ultra high net-worth individuals, prominent wine collectors and specialised wine merchants. Comprehensive knowledge of both wine and wine trading is required. It depends on the purchases and sales made at competitive prices, as well as storing the wines correctly.
Our experience and expertise are to find and source wines that, in our view, have strong investment potentials. Based on your criteria, we will gladly provide you with some suggestions.
What are the risks?
Any investment carries a degree of risk, so robust due diligence is always needed to understand any investment scenario's full scope. Wine is an investment market like any other, so be aware prices can go up as well as down.
Major risks of wine investment include:
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Short term trends
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Unregulated market
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Liquidity
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Counterfeits
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Poor storage
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Label Damage
Do I need to pay taxes for my profits in wine investment?
In Hong Kong, there is no Capital Gains Tax associated with wine investment. Therefore wine investment is considered tax-free.
For more guidance, please consult your tax advisor.
What is the comparison between wine investment and other alternative investments?
Alternatives allocation has become more common in the wealth management sector and is driven by various objectives. Our research reinforces the perks of adding fine wine to traditional portfolios – fine wine’s low correlation with other asset classes provides resilience and opportunity for capital growth in difficult economic times.
Service
How much should I invest?
The minimum investment is HKD 10,000.
Yet we want to emphasise that one of the great advantages of wine over other asset classes is that the market is broad and deep, enabling diversification and reducing risk. We recommend a balanced and risk-adjusted portfolio to begin from about HKD 100,000.
How long should I invest?
As a long period offers more significant returns and lower risk, we recommend an investment horizon of at least 5 years. Investments with shorter time horizons are still possible, and good returns can be achieved over a short period, but the risk is higher. With a few exceptions, for the first year or two, no substantial return should be expected.
Can I sell my wines at any time?
Yes. Whenever you want, you can request to liquidate a portion or all of your portfolio. We will help you pair with the highest bidder in our market network and deliver your wines to the buyers. Usually, this process takes less than 4 weeks.
Can I drink or view my wines at any time?
Yes. As the wine owner, whether you wish to sell or enjoy the wine is completely up to you.
You can request bottles from your portfolio to be delivered to your home for self-consumption. Additional delivery charges apply. However, we would recommend keeping the wines in our designated warehouses. It ensures that the wine has been stored in perfect conditions, which will definitely ease liquidation in the broadest possible market.
If you wish to view the wines, we could either take photos of the actual wines or accompany you for a visit to our local warehouse. Both options require extra arrangement fees.
What are your service fees?
The fee structure consists of two parts – a 7.5% onboarding fee (reduces to 5% when you invest for more than HKD 1M and further reduces to 2.5% when you invest for more than HKD 5M) and a 1.5% annual management fee. No fees are charged on exit.
The onboarding fee is one-off, and it covers all the account opening services – Consultation, Potential analysis, Portfolio building, Wine sourcing, Warehouse registration, Counterfeit checking, etc.
The annual management fee is charged annually and covers all the ongoing costs – Storage (temperature and humidity controlled), Insurance, Security, Regular price update, Active management of your portfolio, etc.
Why should I buy through you instead of buying the wines myself?
With our direct connections with producers, negociants, and merchants, Glassic Wine can receive more competitive offers than the retail price. Hence you can source wines at a lower rate and get a higher return when exit.
Ownership and Storage
Where are my wines stored? Can I keep them at home?
We store your wine in your own account in industry-leading wine storage facilities in France, the UK, Hong Kong, and other global wine trade hotspots.
There are mainly two reasons. First, as all of these facilities are bonded, we can offer our customers significant tax advantages with no VAT or excise duty taxes when trading wines.
Second, wine condition can be kept perfect, and provenance can be guaranteed when you store your wines in professional temperature and humidity controlled government bonded warehouses. These are crucial for resales after a few years of investing.
These advantages will not be available if you store it in your own cellar.
Who owns the wines?
You have the full ownership of your wines. Annual stock reports will be provided, and each of your cases will be marked with your name and account number.
What happens if Glassic Wine Limited goes out of business?
Because you technically and legally own the wines, you will still be able to collect on them if Glassic Wine Limited goes out of business.
All goods stored at our partnered warehouses are marked with the owner’s unique customer ID. Thus, the property interests of the investor are secured at all times - even in the case of bankruptcy of the warehouses.