Romance with vintage wines & spirits

One of the few niche enterprises which would probably remain relatively unscathed after this war with COVID-19 is over is the business of rare and vintage wines and spirits. It is because trends come and go but love for collectable rare beauties in bottles remains.

It is a whole different world out there. Besides many world-renowned companies engaged in the business of rare and vintage wines and spirits (which include auction houses too), there are many private collectors of these premium liquids too around the world; many of whom collect them for the sheer passion of it, without giving much or any consideration to the lucrative business dimension. Like two such seasoned collectors from India –Ravi Viswanathan, Chairman, Grover Zampa Vineyards and Ashutosh Garg, Founder, Guardian Pharmacy who are collecting wines and whiskies respectively, simply for the joy of it.

And there are professional writers and committed researchers who help these connoisseurs and entrepreneurs to get rare insights about this fascinating and enigmatic world of rare and vintage wines and spirits. Together these three verticals probably constitute the edifice of this extremely niche segment of our fast-evolving alcobeverages industry.

There are some nagging questions, which may be faced by players thinking of exploring this passion or business or both. The questions like why these heady beverages command such astronomical prices; what are the factors which need to be considered for ascertaining the ‘value’ of these bottled liquids; how do the players in this business connect with potential buyers; how the bottles of these rare and/or vintage beverages need to be stored are worth understanding.