But, as wine and whisky lovers have learned in recent years, both can also deliver a nice return on investment.
“We did a ton of research about how to make this work, how to make a return on investment that’s going to be interesting to people,” says Elizabeth von Habsurg, Winston Art Group’s founder and managing director. The question was, “can we do it with these asset classes? It was clear that we could.” Cask100 is not the first or only wine and spirits fund. Among available offerings, Vinovest claims to be democratizing access to fine wine and whisky by enabling individuals to create portfolios of their own for as little as US$1,000. Cult Wine Investment, based in the U.K., also creates personalized portfolios for investors, and currently manages a collection of about £290 million .
A selling point for Cask100 is that the fund won’t only buy examples of single-malt whisky or classified Bordeaux, for example, but instead will diversify its portfolio by buying across producers, vintages, and regions. The fund already has bought a Macallan Red Collection 78-year-old, noting that a bottle of this single-malt sold for US$106,000 within the last six months at Sotheby’s. It also has a single-owned collector of 145 rare bottles of bourbon that have a track record of appreciating 41% over five years. Producers in the collection include Pappy Van Winkle, Orphan Barrel, Colonel E.H. Taylor, and WhistlePig.
The bottles and casks purchased will first be identified through Ward’s expertise as a long-time appraiser of fine wine and whiskies. His approach will be to look for producers and regions that are likely to appreciate more than others.