Welcome to WineFi Weekly 🥂

In this week’s newsletter:

• Fine Wine as a Safe Haven 📈 - In the light of recent stock market movements, how can you use fine wine to add uncorrelation to your portfolio?

• Welcoming Matt Small 🍷 - Our new Head of Investment joins, bringing a blend of finance and fine wine expertise.

• The Icon Collection 🏆 - Why is now the right time to invest in premium wines?

• Funding round closed 🕰️ - We have successfully closed our £1.5m oversubscribed round, led by Coterie Holdings, with strong support from existing investors and strategic angels.

Fine Wine as a Safe Haven

In light of today's significant market downturn—where major indices such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq have experienced sharp declines—investors are increasingly seeking assets that offer stability and diversification. Fine wine has historically demonstrated resilience during economic downturns, often maintaining or even appreciating in value when traditional markets falter. This is largely due to its uncorrelation with traditional asset classes, making it an effective tool for portfolio diversification.

The tangible nature of fine wine, combined with its finite supply and growing global demand, underpins its role as a safe haven asset. As bottles are consumed over time, the remaining supply becomes more scarce, potentially driving up value. Incorporating fine wine into your investment strategy not only offers potential for capital appreciation but also provides a buffer against market volatility, enhancing overall portfolio resilience.

Our Head of Investment, Matt Small has written an article on the effect of the tariffs on the fine wine market. Click here to read more.

Click below to view the investment deck for our latest syndicated opportunity - The Icon Collection👇

Welcome Matt Small 🚀 🍷

We’re extremely excited to announce that Matt Small has joined us as our Head of Investment.

Matt brings a unique blend of experience to the team, having previously served as a Senior Portfolio Manager at Cru Wines following a successful earlier career in equity trading at Danske Bank. His background combines the rigour of traditional finance with a passion for fine wine investment — making him an ideal fit for WineFi.

Matt’s role is pivotal as we continue to build and refine our investment offering. Matt will be working closely with our Investment Committee, and will be the first point of contact for investors.

We look forward to seeing the impact of his expertise and energy in the months ahead.

Please join us in giving Matt a very warm welcome! If you would like to book in some time to get to know him, or have any questions around wine investing, please click the button below.

The Icon Collection

Why Now? ⏳

Investing during market downturns has historically led to significant returns, particularly when targeting prestigious wines temporarily trading below their long-term value trends. Iconic wines from the world’s leading producers have recently experienced a notable correction, now offering an ideal entry point.

Key Historic Example: Carruades de Lafite

- Post-correction returns: After the market dip in 2015, the Carruades de Lafite (an equal-weighted index) generated an impressive 16.3% annualised return (CAGR) over the subsequent seven years to the 2022 market peak.

- Performance resilience: Investors who bought the 2014 vintage at the 2015 market bottom still secured an attractive 9.48% annualised return to today, even after the recent downturn.

Current Market Conditions:

- Ultra-premium labels are trading below their 2018 levels, presenting substantial discounts from their 2022 peaks, offering a rare opportunity to acquire premium labels at favourable valuations.

- The recent correction in ultra-premium wines represents a historically compelling entry point, as prices revert closer to their long-term trend lines.

WineFi Seed Round now Closed

We are pleased to share that we have officially closed our oversubscribed funding round, capped at £1.5 million.

This marks an important milestone for WineFi. We successfully raised capital through a combination of crowdfunding on Crowdcube, strong follow-on support from all of our existing institutional investors, and leadership from Coterie Holdings. We are also delighted to have welcomed a number of highly strategic angel investors into the business.

As part of this round, we are proud to announce that Shilen Patel has joined our board. Shilen’s experience and insight will be invaluable as we continue to scale and refine our offering.

We are deeply grateful for the support we have received from our community, investors, and partners. This funding gives us a strong foundation for the next phase of growth — and we are excited for what lies ahead.

The Icon Collection

Deal Overview 🏆

Impressive historic returns: 11.9% average CAGR, based on our backtesting methodology.

Inherent cross-regional and first/second wine diversification: As regional elite wine prices peak; collectors often pivot to second wines from these legendary producers, or equally iconic producers in other regions offering greater value. This portfolio is designed to capitalise on both trends.

Market Leaders at Oversold Levels: These producers have historically led market movements — appreciating the most during the recent boom and experiencing the sharpest correction. We would now consider them ‘oversold’ – value can be found at price levels not seen for 10+ years.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Exemptions: For UK investors, returns are exempt from CGT. Every investor will receive a Letter of Recommendation from a third-party UK tax consultancy that can be shared with their accountant.

Uncorrelated, Risk-Adjusted Returns: Fine wine is almost perfectly uncorrelated to equities, bonds and commodities, and displays more attractive risk-adjusted returns than these traditional asset classes on a Sharpe Ratio basis.