Investment Wines

WINE FUTURES – Invest in the future at today’s prices

Wine Futures are a centuries-old European tradition of investing in rare, blue chip wines while they are still maturing in the cellar. The obvious advantage to the buyer of buying en primeur is that the price of a pre-release wine is considerably lower than the future price of wine.

The success of buying this way obviously depends on selecting wines with sound investment credentials – especially when one considers that, “returns on Investment Grade Wines have dependably outperformed blue chip stocks over the past fifty years” – David Sokolin, international investment guru

The Private Bankers of the wine industry

Wade has pioneered this tradition in South Africa, and established the Wine Futures Plan in 2001. Since then, an increasing number of discerning wine collectors and investors have taken advantage of Wade’s ability to source limited-release wines and make special requests of top winemakers to set limited editions aside for the Wine Futures Plan.

Each of the wines selected for the Wine Futures Plan are backed by an excellent track record, the ability to improve over time, a consistent global demand of previous vintages and a high rating by leading critics.

A growing return

To realise the best return, we advise buyers to keep their wine for at least five years. The scarcer they become, the more desirable they are.

Current Investment Wine Offer: Kanonkop Black Label 2010

In a situation that could be described as one of great vinous irony, Kanonkop Wine Estate did not produce its iconic Black Label Pinotage from the 2009 vintage which has been described in wine circles as one of the best South African vintages in living memory. The last Kanonkop Black Label released was from 2008, while this year sees the release of the 2010 vintage.
“Skipping a vintage of the Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage was never going to be an easy decision,” says Johann Krige, co-owner of the illustrious property on the slopes of South Africa’s Simonsberg. “Since 2006 – when wine from a special parcel of Pinotage vineyard was first kept aside for the Black Label we have waited for the grapes with great anticipation and watched the development of this rare wine with excitement.
“However, the all-round excellence of the 2009 vintage threw a curve-ball at us,” says Krige, a former University of Stellenbosch baseball player. “The quality of all Kanonkop Pinotage was generally of such a superb standard that we had to admit that the parcel used for the Black Label was not going to stand-out as much from our other Pinotage as it has been doing up until now.”
Paradoxically thus, Kanonop’s great 2009 Pinotage harvest will thus only be found in the Estate’s traditional Pinotage and not under the sought-after Black Label.
“The objective with the Black Label as always been to provide a wine that is not only rare in terms of availability, but also a uniquely excellent wine of the stand-out variety,” says Krige. “If it is not going to stand-out in a specific vintage, it will not be released under the Black Label.”
The Kanonkop Black Label 2010 will be launched in December. Only 1500 bottles will be sold through three wine negotiants at R1100 per bottle, inclusive of VAT.
Since the release of the inaugural Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2006 in 2009, this wine has generated tremendous interest among local and international wine lovers wishing to obtain the premium product from one of South Africa’s leading wine estates.
Made exclusively from a small patch of Pinotage vines planted in 1953, the scarcity of the Kanonkop Black Label has also led to a secondary demand with eager collectors buying from willing sellers who managed to get their hands on a few bottles.
According to Krige the quality of the first three Black Label releases – from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages – has led to immensely favourable reaction from international wine critics, collectors and industry commentators.
“The wine has a cult following – not only due to scarcity, but also quality,” he says. “We are getting fantastic feedback from people now drinking the 2006 for example and finding that the wine delivers what Kanonkop set out to deliver – world-class excellence worth paying a premium for.”
The other reason behind the Black Label concept was to create a secondary market for a South African wine, something Krige says the local industry deserves. “The South African industry is making some of the best wines in our history, wines that are internationally competitive and deserve recognition as such. By providing limited-release wines of superb quality, the South African industry can develop a secondary market in which demand outstrips supply to the extent where a number of collectors and wine-lovers partake in a healthy willing-buyer, willing-seller scenario as is the case in the French industry.”
Abrie Beeslaar, Kanonkop Cellarmaster who was named International Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2008, says 2010 was a spectacular year for Pinotage, with the emphasis on loads of refined fruit.
“The Black Label vines may be 59 years old, but in 2010 they showed bright, youthful fruit,” he says. “The fermenting juice was removed from the skins after four days, with malolactic fermentation commencing in the stainless steel tank, before being completed in new French oak barrels. Maturation in new wood was done over 16 months, allowing the fruit concentration to be complemented by softer, deeper flavours of wild veld brush with savoury notes.”
Beeslaar says that whilst being elegantly drinkable in its youth, it will develop magnificently over the next 20 years.
The wines will be available from Monday, 28 November 2011

Mimimun order of 6 bottles per client and a maximum order of 36 bottles per client. Each wine is individually numbered and labelled with a hologram to ensure authenticity, with buyers limited to purchasing 36 bottles per person. The wines will be exclusively available from Wade Bales Wine Society.

** Limited Availability R 6600 per case of 6
TO PURCHASE PLEASE CONTACT CAROL ROUX ON 0861 88 77 66 or order now

To find out more about the investment potential of Wine Futures, call 0861 88 77 66 and we will be happy to advise you in greater detail.

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