Best Wine Investment Apps (2024): Features, Benefits

For the longest time, only elite and institutional investors had access to fine wine investment. 

But, today, wine investment companies like Vinovest have made investing in fine wine easily accessible to everyone. 

In fact, you could start investing in rare investment wine bottles like Chateau Latour and Le Pin with just a few clicks of your mouse! 

Let’s explore the top 5 wine investment companies that you should try - whether you’re a passive investor or a passionate collector. 

We’ll also look at how a wine investment company like Vinovest makes investing in wine hassle-free and other ways of investing in fine wine.

Before looking at the best apps, here’s a quick look at why you should invest in wine.

What Makes Fine Wine A Good Investment?

Here’s why serious investors choose fine wine investing as the best alternative investment option.

• Low Volatility: The fine wine market has low volatility because this alternative investment depends on internal factors like climate and winemaking practices and more. This means that wine prices aren’t dependent on external market factors like the stock market would be.
• Impressive Returns: The wine market has consistently outperformed traditional investments.In the past 15 years, the fine wine market grew by 304%, while the Global Equity Index rose by 196%. 

The Financial Times reported that even during the pandemic, when the S&P Global Luxury Index took a tumble of 14%, the Liv-ex 1000 Index fell by only 1.7%. 

• Scarcity: Less than 1% of wines produced globally are investment-worthy. With time, a bottle becomes rarer due to consumption, while its demand only grows. The limited availability and high demand ensure that wine prices of the finest bottles keep increasing. 
• Physical Asset: Fine wine is a physical asset that you can collect.

Wondering which are the best wine apps to help you add this lucrative investment to your portfolio?

Top 5 Best Wine Investment Companies (or Apps) In 2024

Fine wine investment companies have expert wine investment professionals who take the hard work off investors using AI-driven, intelligent solutions.

Here are 5 of the best wine investment companies (or apps) to try out in 2024.

1. Vinovest

Founded in 2019 by Anthony Zhang (CEO and Founder) and Brent Akamine (Co-Founder), Vinovest is a revolutionary wine investment company that lets you buy, store, and sell rare and authentic fine wine bottles from the comfort of their homes.

It is an AI-driven wine investment platform that uses extensive data to suggest a set of fine wine bottles specifically for your investment portfolio. Some of the data it considers include critics’ reviews, the wine’s history, prices, provenance, and longevity.

This wine investment platform also gives you access to en primeur bottles (wine futures) so you can get your hands on investment-grade wines before they are released into the market.

To start investing in wine with Vinovest, follow these three easy steps:

Step 1: Sign up on the website or the app.

Step 2: Fill in a questionnaire that Vinovest’s Master Sommelier team will use to curate a portfolio for you.

Step 3: Fund your account with a minimum of $1,000 and start adding fine wines to your portfolio.

Here are some benefits of investing in wine through Vinovest:

• Vast Network and Best Prices: Vinovest sources your wine directly from wineries, top wine merchants, and global wine exchanges, giving you access to below-retail prices - perfect for every wine investor.
• Worldwide, Climate-Controlled Storage Facilities: Vinovest has state-of-the-art storage facilities in France, New York, and Switzerland (to name a few.) The cellars are monitored 24/7 and maintain optimal temperature, light, vibrations, and humidity.
• Tax Advantages: Vinovest stores your wine in a bonded warehouse that doesn’t charge any excise duty or VAT, giving you tax benefits.
• Easy to Buy and Sell: You can buy and sell your fine wine bottle from any device in just a few clicks. Also, anyone can sign up - not just institutional investors.
• Provenance: Vinovest will check the provenance of your bottle to ensure the authenticity of your Grand Cru Burgundy, Napa Valley Cabernet, or Tuscan Italian wine.
• Full-Coverage Insurance: Your wine bottle is insured against breakage, loss, and theft.
• Multiple Payment Methods: You can pay through bank transfers, a credit card, wire transfer, paper checks, and cryptocurrency.
• Global Shipping: Vinovest will get your bottle delivered to you or your buyer anywhere in the world - be it New York or Australia.
• Liquidity: Vinovest’s vast network of buyers allows you to sell your wine in 2-3 weeks.
• Wine Trading: Vinovest’s trading platform allows you to invest in wine as you invest in stocks. You get 100% control over your portfolio and can buy and sell investment-worthy Piedmont, Burgundy, and Bordeaux wine bottles without a hold time or minimum balance. 

For all of these services, Vinovest charges a minimal annual fee of 2.5% (1.9% for a portfolio of $50,000 and above.)

2. Vinfolio

Vinfolio is another wine investment company that allows investors to buy, sell, and store investment grade wines. 

Vinfolio requires you to add a minimum of $25,000 to your account to start investing. 

You can directly buy wine through Vinfolio’s website and store it in their warehouses. However, they charge a separate storage fee which you can pay up-front or through monthly plans. 

When you’re ready to sell, you can sell your wine through Vinfolio’s marketplace, VinCellar. You’ll have to pay an additional 15% fee for the marketplace services.  

3. Vint

Vint is an SEC-qualified wine and spirit stock investment company for US investors.

Here’s how it works.

• A team of professional brokers and sommeliers curate a collection through extensive research. 
• The collection is sent to the storage facilities where every bottle is insured.
• Vint then determines the collection’s price by deciding purchase and sale costs and adding an 8%-10% sourcing fee.
• Then, the company files paperwork with SEC to qualify a collection before setting it live on its website.
• When a collection sells, 100% of the proceeds are returned to shareholders (pro-rata) and you’ll get a 1099-DIV tax form.

You fund your account with a minimum amount, choose a collection, and decide how many shares you want to buy. The caveat? You don’t have control over when a collection is sold.

4. Vindome

Vindome is a blockchain-based fine wine trading platform where wine enthusiasts and investors can buy and sell fine wine in the secondary market.

Vindome gives you two options for buying wine: buy a collection at a set price or use the Live Market to buy a bottle (at the listed price or place a bid.)

Also, Vindome will automatically store your wine at its bonded warehouse unless stated otherwise. It charges you a monthly storage fee. 

You can either match a bid or create a new listing for individual bottles to sell your wine. 

5. Cult Wine Investment

Cult Wine Investment is a London-based wine investment company with an AI-driven solution. It provides a wine portfolio advisor to investors for their investment portfolio. 

In 2021 Cult Wines launched Cult Wines Americas in North America, and they currently have staff in 83 countries.

Cult Wine considers the investors' risk appetite for creating an investor’s wine portfolio. There are four tiers to choose from when signing up: Cru Classé, Premier Cru, Grand Cru, and Cult Cru. 

The minimum investment is £10,000 (around $12,000.) Depending on the size of your investment portfolio, you’ll have to pay an annual fee of 2.25% to 2.95%, which includes storage and portfolio management.

The elite Cult Cru plan has a minimum investment of $50,000 and gives you access to the Cult Connoisseur's Club.

Why Use A Wine Investment Company?

Here are five main reasons wine investment companies are an asset:

• Building A Cellar Is Costly
• The Risk Of Counterfeit Bottles
• High Risk Without Knowledge
• Intimidating for Beginners 
• Lack of Access

A. Building A Cellar Is Costly

Building a cellar is costly, and a cabinet in the basement just won’t do for long-term fine wine investing. 

To ensure that your wine reaches its peak, you need proper wine storage facilities with optimal temperature, humidity, light, and vibrations. Building an underground cellar would cost you around  $300 to $600 per square foot. So, you’ll need to spend around $15,000-$62,000 for a 25-150 square feet cellar.

Instead, if you opt for professional storage facilities through wine investment companies, you won’t have to bother about building a cellar or maintaining it for decades.

B. The Risk Of Counterfeit Bottles

You need to be careful of counterfeit wine bottles. You don’t want to end up with a fake “California Cabernet Sauvignon” bottle after shelling out $2,000!

Wine auctions and reliable wine investing companies like Vinovest will authenticate the bottle before selling it to you.

C. High Risk Without Wine Market Knowledge

Investing in blue chip wines needs extensive wine knowledge. 

Most wine investing companies have a Master Sommelier, portfolio manager, and AI-driven technology to ensure that only the perfect wines enter your portfolio.

D. Intimidating for Beginners

Much like the real estate asset class, the wine industry can be intimidating for beginners, especially with making connections and deciding which wines should go into your wine collection.

Wine investing companies help you build a rewarding wine portfolio through in-depth wine expertise and vast connections.

E. Lack of Access

Spaces like an auction house and private collectors club tend to be exclusive and are usually reserved for a wine expert. 

Wine investment platforms offer amateur wine investors access to wine clubs, events, and other resources besides making it super easy to buy and sell wine.

Are there any other ways of investing in wine?

Other Ways of Investing In Fine Wine

Here are two other ways of investing in the fine wine market:

• Wine Stock And ETFs
• Buy, Store, And Sell Wines Yourself

1. Wine Stock And ETFs

Investors can buy a wine fund or stock of their preferred winery and have fractional ownership of the estate. This way, investors can partake in the wine industry without physically owning a bottle of wine. 

Top wine stock and ETF companies you could invest in are: 

• Constellation Brands Inc
• Brown Forman Corporation
• Treasury Wine Estate
• Willamette Valley Vineyards 
• Wine Investment Fund

It’s important to note that wine stock, like traditional investment, can be a bit volatile.

2. Buy, Store, And Sell Wines Yourself

If you have extensive wine knowledge and a proper cellar to store wine, you can start investing in this alternative asset on your own. Wine sites like Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate offer insightful critic reviews to help you assess which bottles to buy.

You can consult a professional portfolio advisor and a wine expert to get more insights.

Invest In Exclusive Wine Bottles With A Click Of Your Mouse!

Fine wine is a unique asset class that not only offers you a great opportunity to diversify your portfolio but also protects it from inflation.

A wine investment app like Vinovest is the easiest way to start investing in the finest investment grade wine bottles from across the globe - be it the cult wines of Napa Valley, a fine Bordeaux wine, or a magnificent Italian wine.

So, get your credit card ready and sign up with Vinovest to start your fine wine investment journey today.