Fine Wine Investing Explained: Part 3 - The Last 20 Years

This show was published Friday, September 25, 2026

Overview

Chris looks at 22 years of Liv-ex data to see how fine wine has really performed since 2004, comparing the Liv-ex 50, 100 and 1000 against the FTSE, Dow Jones and NASDAQ, once fees and storage costs are taken into account.

This is Part 3 of Chris's Fine Wine Investing Explained series, following on from his breakdown of the three main fine wine markets and the fraud that continues to dog the trade. Here he pulls it all together with the actual numbers.

On the surface the Liv-ex 1000 has returned 243 percent since 2004, an average of 10.8 percent a year, which looks competitive against the FTSE. But once you strip out storage costs, buying and selling fees, and compare it properly against dividend-paying shares, the real picture changes completely. Chris walks through why the average fine wine investment may only be returning around 0.04 percent a year once fees are factored in, and why a small pricing quirk in how the newer financial wine companies charge their fees might be quietly reshaping which wines are rising in value right now.

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Music

The music used for the UK Wine Show is Griffes de Jingle 1 by Marcel de la Jartèle and Silence by Etoile Noire.