Luxury wine investments in 2019 were insipid, better for those who invested in whiskey and art

Investing in luxury wine has been, for years, especially in recent times, one of the most profitable strategies ever, while instead in 2019 the pace has slowed down somewhat. Even though growth was only +1% compared to 2018, it was much better than investments in vintage cars and jewelry, which dropped -7%, but instead worse than investments focusing on stamps (+ 6%) fine whiskeys (+ 5%), art (+ 5%), rare coins (+ 3%), watches (+ 2%), and above all, luxury bags (+ 13%). These are the data revealed in “The Wealth Report” 2020, just published by the Knight Frank agency, one of the world’s giants of high-end real estate, which monitors the progress of investments in various luxury sectors, recapitulated in the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index. And, 2019 in general marked a
-1% compared to 2018.
Nevertheless, over the last 10 years, according to data of Wine Owners (who manage the wine segment for of Knight Frank report), focusing on wine has been decidedly a good investment, showing an index growth of +120%, much higher than that of luxury watches (+ 60%), rare stamps (+64%), and colored diamonds (+77%), and slightly below the index average of +141%. The best investments are, of course, in bottles, while regarding high quality whiskeys, in 10 years they have been reevaluated at an enormous +564%, much more than vintage cars (194%), rare and ancient coins (+ 175%) and art (+ 141%).
What does the future hold? It is impossible to predict, especially since the new year, 2020, started out with economic uncertainties linked to the tariffs war between the USA, China and Europe, followed by Brexit, and then the Coronavirus crisis exploded, which is still far from being over. It is therefore very difficult even for the most optimistic to expect big growth in 2020, not even in the luxury markets, which according to many, actually risk being some of the most affected.