Can fine wine protect you from 'bad money'?

ALTERNATIVES

At the recent London Wine Fair, the Financial Times' John Authers alluded to the fact that should the euro collapse, investors could be driven into alternative assets like fine wine as a place to store their money.

There is an economic law that explains this process – Gresham’s Law. Stated simply, it means that bad money drives investors to seek good money. In this instance, the bad money is the euro currency and the good money is an asset  like wine. Over recent years, wine has emerged as an alternative asset class. It certainly has the credentials for being so. According to a recent study by Liv-ex, fine wine prices over the preceding 20 years have achieved higher returns with lower volatility than virtually any other asset class. Academic research has also confirmed wine’s status as an asset ...