Fine wine investment firm Cult Wines has lowered its investment threashold after launching a new investment platform that it says will provide clients with greater accessibility to their assets, added benefits and a more bespoke service.
The new platform provides digital tools for clients to better manage their portfolios, and is based on Vintel – a sophisticated proprietary technology that automatically analyses, allocates wines and actively managing portfolios, from a web app. The new client portal enables clients to track their portfolio, received curated offers of wines they might be interested in, and receive buy and sell recommendations from the company’s investment committee.
Cult Wine explained that a portfolio is built in real time according to risk appetite and investment horizon, with clients able to view the wines in their portfolio before confirming, after which the wines are immediately allocated.
As part of the move, the team has shaken up its client offer with the introduction of four new tiers of investment that allow clients to to build their wine collection from as little at £10,000.
The four tiers – Cru Classe, Premier Cru, Grand Cru and Cult Cru – provide different levels of investment, starting with the core features at £10,000, and rising to £100,000 for the Cult Cru membership which includes curated vineyard experiences and membership of the Cult Connoisseur’s Club. Benefit of the higher tiers include priority access to wine releases, bespoke events and experiences, from access to private vintage releases, food and wine pairing experiences with renowned chefs and bespoke trips to prestigious estates.
“We believe the key to the success of our new platform will be the unique blend of wine knowledge, the expert guidance of our relationship managers, the powerful technology underpinning the portfolio, and the human expertise from our investment committee and portfolio managers,” CEO and co-founder Tom Gearing (above) said. “Together with our superior Customer Experience programme that leverages our relationships.”
The investment in the business comes off the back of significant market growth for the company over the last 18 months which has seen the amount of assets Cult Wines manages increase to £200m.
Tom Gearing said that the new technology would give its experts unrivalled tools to complement their market expertise, adding that historically, the wine investment category had been perceived as only for the wealthy, or those with considerable wine knowledge, but that was “not the case”.
“We are enabling more people to invest effectively while maintaining the client service, impeccable standards, and returns for which we are known,” he said.
Chief experience officer Patrick Thornton-Smith said that this move would help broaden Cult Wine’s audience around the world.
“We aim to actively increase the opportunity to experience the world’s finest leading wine brands in a tangible way. Wine is inherently enjoyable, investing in it should be too,” he said.
He added that the addition of events and experiences was a “natural extension” to take its community “on a journey of wine discovery, connecting them with like-minded wine enthusiasts and providing a plenitude of exclusive experiences.”
