Investing in fine wine remotely in times of Covid, tariffs and stuck cargo ships

Dear reader,

The recent unbelievable blockage of the Suez Canal by the cargo ship Ever Given has led not only to endless memes and jokes on the internet, but also intense debates and reflections in the real world on global commerce and supply chains.

After all, when around a tenth of all commerce in the world faces being put on hold thanks to a stuck cargo ship — already in the middle of trade wars, tariffs and such a deadly and economically devastating pandemic as Covid —, it means something might not be right at all.

Investing in wine — or simply being a collector, merchant or a normal consumer —, there is the possibility you have felt or will experience an eventual delay or price increase due to the disruptions from the “new Suez crisis”. If you’re in the United States, the situation gets even more worrisome if you add last years’ tariffs on European wines to the mix, even if a fair amount of them are paused now.

But thankfully there’s this thing called technology. That revolutionary aspect that takes over our lives in every possible sense.

Even if nothing has happened to your wine purchases so far, it could be just the time to think of going digital – in case you want to secure yourself more fine wines or diversify your investment portfolio: if you can nowadays manage investment accounts from your phone, why not do the same with your investment-grade wines, all remotely?

And even better: choosing if you want to keep your wines in bond, overseas, mostly tax-free and under the best storing conditions – or if you want to reclaim your bottle(s) for consumption.

 

Wine commerce amid global logistical fears

As Wine Spectator put out just this week, wine companies working transatlantic have been experiencing a true logistical nightmare since 2020 went by, thanks to a combination of obvious difficulties that arose from the pandemic, as stricter safety protocols, and made shipments take much more time than usual; tariffs from the US trade wars; and rising demands from Asian markets for other consumer goods, which made it even harder to find space for wine containers in the transatlantic axis.

And given how shipping by plane means much higher costs… less wine options on US shelves, for example, and logistical issues for commerce ever on the rise. In turn, European producers too have found themselves under greater financial constraints when dealing overseas.

All in all, bad for everyone involved.

With the Ever Given case – which gave way to massive delays in commerce flows through Europe and Asia and billions in losses –, one could also wonder whether further “chokes” (and here I’m quoting the classic geopolitical choke points…) in commerce and supply chains could provoke worse halts.

Truth is: the major incident was a really unfortunate situation. One of a kind.

However, nothing rules out similar issues could happen again – just think of how many billions were lost in just a week of blockage, in the many missed deadlines, in how many consumer products have expired due to this seemingly naive accident. Imagine how it could go down in cases of terrorism, conflicts, environmental disasters?

 

Thinking wine investment…

…this could also mean various risks, such as damaged goods, expensive delays or even theft.

And adding to that mix of logistical, political and commercial fears, our growing concerns of economic uncertainties that require us to pay more and more attention to alternative investments and tangible assets. Fine wine among them, as a tangible asset with an enormous long-term tendency of appreciation.

Why not ease all these concerns as a wine investor?

For far too long, wine investment had been associated with collecting and cellaring one’s own bottles, even if that eventually meant taking the risks of bad storing conditions which could ruin a wine. Or even raise questions about real quality and provenance.

You can make it different by diversifying your portfolio investing online and safely in hard, luxury assets such as fine wine, that will grow in quality with time and will become scarcer, thus benefiting from the magical combination of less supply and equal or higher demand.

Alti Wine Exchange offers only critically acclaimed fine and rare wines – directly from producers, stored in bond tax-free under the best storage conditions, and also tradable on our platform.

What does that all mean?

That we offer you – through our initial bottle offerings, Wine Club offers or simply on our secondary marketplace – direct access to rare and truly recognizable investment-grade wines, at the same time taking care of storage and security of your assets in the safe and climate-controlled vaults of the Bordeaux City Bond.

Any wine you invest in on Alti Wine Exchange is stored by partners ensuring a temperature-controlled environment with specially adapted lighting. Bordeaux City Bond is a highly secure warehouse, devoted to the storage of fine and rare wines, exempt from all duties and taxes.

And yes, you can always keep track of your assets remotely with your digital wallet. Woo-hoo.

This wonderful mix allows us to offer the lowest possible starting price during the initial bottle offering period of any wine – and letting you have control of biddings on our blockchain-powered marketplace, keeping your wine(s) stored and reclaiming your bottle(s) only when you want to. No need for ordering for delivery unless you want to consume.

Here’s all you need to know about how we operate.

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Isn’t it so much easier to start diversifying your portfolio with good alternative investments and making profits and wealth out of your passion?

Until next time!