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Stunning photos has the world raising a toast to alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A woman smells a glass of red wine from Spain during a tasting session at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong.

From Spain to Taiwan, the taste for alcohol remains a constant, as these photographs show.

Investing in wine has more to do with emotion than cash, say experts. Although entering the market is not for the faint hearted, leaving personal taste can do wonders for the investor, they caution.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Wine bottles are displayed at Alimentaria trade show in Barcelona, Spain.

When investing in wine, as opposed to drinking it, experts advise leaving your taste buds at the cellar door but keeping your eyes wide-open.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Barrels of wine are stored in the cellar of Chateau Larose Trintaudon in Saint Laurent Medoc, near Bordeaux, southwestern France.

Wine is highly regulated, but the market it trades in is not, and the entry fee is not for the faint of heart.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Visitors toast each other on a sunny day during Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

"For proper investment in wine you really need to separate out your personal taste and your personal preference from investment purposes," said Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, author most recently of The One Minute Wine Master and Pairing with the Masters: A Definitive Guide to Food & Wine.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Reinaldo Lopez, Cuban sommelier, tastes a rum cocktail during the International Havana Club Cocktail Grand Prix at Havana's Hotel Nacional

"These are two entirely different goals," said Simonetti-Bryan.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A man holds a glass of red wine from Spain during a tasting session at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong.

"Wine is completely emotional and that's what makes it very difficult as an asset class," said Simonetti-Bryan, who before attaining the top qualification of Master of Wine, worked as a financial analyst inLondon.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Men drink beer at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Collectible wine represents less than 1 per cent of the entire world's annual wine production.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A waitress serves one-litre beer mugs at Munich's Oktoberfest, Germany.

The other 99 per cent of this year's output will be up for tasting and sale at VinExpo, the industry's global trade show in Bordeaux, France.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A customer poses for the camera with a pint of beer in a public house in Leeds, northern England.

But at least some of that top 1 per cent, the classified growths of prized Bordeaux, have already been sampled, rated and priced.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A woman tastes red wine in the Millesima cellar in Bordeaux, southwestern France.

Investors "can do extraordinarily well, but only if you know what you're doing," said Charles Curtis, the former head of wines in New York and Hong Kong for Christie's auction house, who now advises winecollectors and investors.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A waiter serves a glass of red wine from Spain during a tasting session at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong.

Curtis, like Simonnetti-Bryan, is one of 300 people in the world to hold the coveted Master of Wine title.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A man downs alcohol during the annual Saint Anthony purification ceremony in the village of San Bartolome de los Pinares near Avila in Spain.

"To be successful in investing in any alternative asset - wine, jewellery, art - you have to have a passion for what you collect," said Curtis, whose clients range from those with small collections to those with "five (million dollar) to $10 million cellars."

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A bartender at work in Shanghai, China.

Timing is also crucial. For example, take the price of a case of 1982 Lafite, the premiere cru Bordeaux.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A visitor points to cocktail glasses inside a house constructed entirely of ice blocks as part of a promotion of a bank in Berlin, Germany.

Its cost rose to about $64,000 in May 2011, only to fall to less than $40,000 in January 2012.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A visitor walks past an alcohol stand during the Tax Free World Association exhibition in Cannes, southeastern France.

"The '82s began to flood the market last year because they were 30 years old and they're peaking," said Jennifer Williams-Bulkeley, who worked in London and managed a portfolio in which the assets were mostly stocks and bonds.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A man looks at bottles of wine on display at the Vinitaly wine expo in Verona, Italy.

She recently opened a Boston-based wine investment advisory service and applies a soupcon of statistics and a pinch of analytics, combined with knowledge of terroir to the investment portfolios of herwine clients.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Women in silhouette as they drink at a party in a bar in central London.

"If you're properly managing your wine portfolio, you know when to sell it," said Williams-Bulkeley.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A visitor walks past a wine display at Alimentaria trade show in Barcelona, Spain.

In addition to timing, wine must be stored correctly, shipped properly and have impeccable provenance to qualify as a viable investment.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Glasses and bottles of Chateau Belcier red wine in a testing room in Saint Emilion, southwestern France.

Questions about provenance are behind a lawsuit filed against celebrity Chef Charlie Trotter.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Bottles of Sauternes wine in the Millesima cellar in Bordeaux, southwestern France.

Two New York collectors sued in Chicago's federal court, accusing Trotter of selling them a big bogus bottle of 1945 Burgundy for more than $46,000.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Bottles of beer are displayed for sale at a store in Hong Kong's Sheung Wan district.

Some auction houses have also been sued for selling suspect wines.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A barman pulls a pint of beer at a public house in Leeds, northern England.

Auctions generate most of the publicity, yet they represent a fairly small percentage of the roughly $4 billion fine wine market.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A man picks up a bottle at an assembly line inside the Taiwan Beer factory in Jhunan, Miaoli County.

So far this year, the auction houses of Acker, Merrall & Condit, Christie's, Hart Davis Hart, and Sotheby's have sold a little over $100 million worth of fine wine around the world.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Glasses of white wine are lined up for students to drink at the end of their evening butchery class at the Ginger Pig butchery shop in central London.

While this spring's auction season still has a couple of auctions left and final totals are not in, it looks as though sales will be lower than the first half of last year, when sales totaled about $160 million.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Bottles on display for a wine tasting at the Boschendal winery in Stellenbosch, about 80km southwest of Cape town, South Africa.

If you still want to get started investing in wine, you'll need to open your wallet wide. Curtis pegged the minimum needed to begin investing seriously in wine at about $100,000.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
A worker prepares bottles of rose wine at the Domaine Saint Andre de Figuiere at La Londe Les Maures in Provence, France.

Williams-Bulkeley's managed accounts begin at $250,000.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Racegoers hold pints of Guinness on St Patrick's Day on the third day of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival meeting in Gloucestershire, central England.

In the Europe and Asia, it is still possible for sophisticated investors to put money into wine funds for comparatively little - between $15,000 and $50,000.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Bottles of wine are stored in the cellar of Chateau Puyfromage in Lussac near Saint Emilion, southwestern France.

But the funds are not without risk. Some are suffering from liquidity problems and unrealistic valuations of their holdings.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
An exhibitor's lounge with wine bottles at the International Trade Fair Wines and Spirits in Duesseldorf, Germany.

Last month, regulators in Luxembourg forced the wine fund Nobles Crus to suspend redemptions temporarily after the fund manager admitted it did not have enough cash on hand to meet redemption demands.

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Stunning photos capture the business of alcohol

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 11:31 IST
Tourists drink local beer at a beach-side hotel in Suva, Fiji.

Wines made from fruits besides grapes are usually named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, pomegranate wine, apple wine and elderberry wine) and are generically called fruit wine, according to Wikipedia.

Source: REUTERS
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