Wine collectors eye cellars for liquidity
Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn’t because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more – it’s because they have been selling to raise cash.
The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.
“People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes,” Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann said on Monday.
In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell US$10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about US$6 million offered to it.
Among the wines that that recently have come into Vinfolio’s possession are a 6-liter Imperiale of 2003 Chateau Margaux that retails for almost US$15,000 and a bottle of 1990 Romanee-Conti that lists for around US$11,000.
One Aspen collector is looking to sell US$750,000 worth of wine and another individual from the private equity world is offering up wine worth about US$500,000 from his collection, he said.
“I think we’re seeing a culling of people’s cellars without necessarily a wholesale abandonment,” said Bachmann, whose company has a five-person team dedicated to buying wine from private cellars.
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