Tag Archive for: wine

Vinfolio Creates a Program to Manage Investments in Fine Wine

 

Vinfolio, one of the country’s leading fine wine companies, recently announced the launch of a new cutting-edge fine wine investment program. Now, in addition to securing some of the most sought after wines by the bottle, Vinfolio clients can also gain access to a selection of investment-grade stock in original cases directly on the company’s e-commerce platform, or by working directly with Vinfolio’s executive team to build a bespoke fine wine investment portfolio.

From the time of my initial investment in Vinfolio back in 2016, it seemed that the U.S. market was lacking a player who could bring the idea of fine wine as an investment opportunity to the mainstream in a clear and accessible way,” says Don St. Pierre, Executive Chairman of Vinfolio. “Now, with the addition of more than 5,000 cases of investment-grade wines to our platform and the launch of our full-service investment program, we are proudly assuming that mantle.”

Historically speaking, fine wine has outperformed many of the traditional asset classes available and we are seeing more and more people looking to diversify by building a wine portfolio,” Vinfolio President Adam Lapierre says. “We believe we are in a unique position to support clients embarking on this journey thanks to our deep knowledge of the collectible fine wine market, unmatched global network of suppliers and innovative business model. I’m particularly excited by our full-service investment program: the process is extremely simple, fully transparent and, at the same time, low cost to the investor. It’s a game-changer.”

Vinfolio’s strength lies not just in the sourcing of fine wines at the best prices, but also in its use of technology to create a platform that provides both buyers and sellers with all the requisite tools and intelligence to successfully build and liquidate a wine portfolio. In addition to its marketplace platform, Vinfolio has proprietary access to crucial flow-data which lies at the heart of all our decision-making. The company’s algorithm dynamically looks at current U.S. retail listings, auction sale prices, and sales on its own platform to determine what is the current fair market value of a given wine. From there, Vinfolio can trigger buy or sell activities to ensure a sound investment and a healthy return.

Over the last three decades, investment-grade wine has performed very strongly against just about all major asset classes. Analysis of a representative selection of the foremost traded investment-grade wines reveals a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 11 percent since 1988. In context, the returns for U.S. Equities (DJIA), U.K. equities (FTSE), Asia equities (Hang Seng), Gold, and Oil for the same period were materially lower.

ABOUT VINFOLIO

Vinfolio is majority-owned by Executive Chairman Don St. Pierre Jr. and his business partner and good friend Allan Warburg, co-founder and co-CEO of Bestseller Fashion Group China. St. Pierre is the recipient of numerous wine industry accolades, including being named number seven on Decanter magazine’s 2011 Top 50 global wine industry power players and selected by Wine Enthusiast Magazine as the 2011 International Man of the Year. In 2012, the French government awarded St. Pierre Jr. the degree of Knight in the French Ordre du Mérite Agricole, and in 2015, he was appointed as a member of the supervisory board of Vinexpo Overseas. Vinfolio’s ownership also includes Jean-Michel Valette, who chairs the Education and Examination Board (EEB) of the Institute of Masters of Wine and is former chairman of Robert Mondavi Corporation and Peet’s Coffee, Jon Moramarco, former CEO of Constellation Brands, and Steve Case, founder of AOL and co-founder at venture capital firm Revolution

Visit https://www.vinfolio.com/wine-investing for more details on Vinfolio’s new investment initiative.

DOMAINE DE TASTE Virtual Wine Tasting with R&B Cellars

Virtual Wine Tasting

Join us in tasting the new ultra limited edition wine, DOMAINE DE TASTE: The Gift, with R&B Cellars. DOMAINE DE TASTE is a collab between R&B Cellars and TasteTV, created in honor of the TASTE AWARDS

The tasting with winery founders Kevin and Barbara Brown explores the creation of the wine, the grapes and terroir, as well as the flavors and notes and food with which it pairs.

Find out more about DOMAINE DE TASTE, or get your own bottle at www.DomaineDeTaste.com. Only 100 bottles produced of this edition, The Gift

 

Need to Travel with Wine? Try the Wine Suitcase

If you have more than a few bottles of wine from a day trip or a long trip away, you definitely want to get them home safe and sound. Fortunately, there is luggage for that.

The VinGardeValise is a line of tough suitcases that are gentle on glass, thanks to their dense foam inserts created to cradle wine bottles.

The VinGardeValise® Piccolo doubles as an anytime, anywhere airline carry-on piece of luggage or as a checked wine travel case to travel safely with up to 5-bottles of wine – with room for your clothes and belongings on the other side

Available at https://vingardevalise.com

WINE PICKS: 3 Chardonnays that are Perfect to Drink Right Now

On a hot sunny day or in cool stormy weather, if you’ve closed a big deal or just sitting down to relax, these 3 Chardonnays are perfect for any situation or climate.


Tolosa 2018 1772 Chardonnay, Eden Ranch Edna Valley

Fermentation: French oak barrels

Aging: 9 months in French oak barrels, with 20% of them being new

Vineyard: Edna Ranch

Alcohol: 13.4%

Tolosa has a wine series they call “1772”. The series is named for the founding year of the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, and honors the local terroir and winemaking history of the cooler and Pacific Ocean-influenced climate and limestone sediment of the Edna Valley. The 1772 Chardonnay from 2018 is priced around $58 a bottle. Tolosa calls this their classic Chardonnay, and says that it truly captures the essence of the estate. The 2018 Tolosa Chardonnay has an appealing hint of bright acidity, with notes of the minerality of the Edna Valley, as well aromas of fresh fruits and herbs. This Chardonnay was aged for 9 months in French oak barrels.

Find here.


Anaba 2017 Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Vineyards: Tolay Vista, Dutton (Shop Block and Mill Station), J McK Estate

Alcohol: 13.2%

Fermentation: Hand-sorted and whole cluster pressed. Barrel fermented (75% malolactic fermentation, 25% retained natural malic acid). Aged 17 months sur lie in French oak barrels, 25% of which were new.

Cooperage: Damy, Cavin, Taransaud, François Frères Cases Produced: 738

This Sonoma Coast Chardonnay comes from distinct areas within the Sonoma Coast AV. Some of these areas were impacted by the 2017 North Bay fires, however the fruit was picked before those events took place so they were not affected. In general, the regions from which they come are cooler or foggier than some other Chardonnays, giving this 2017 vintage a great year.

The Anaba Chardonnay’s fruit tends towards the citrus and vanilla bouquet, with a bit of minerality and a very subtle palate. The alcohol content is in the European-style of 13.2%. Only 738 cases were produced, and it was aged 17 months in French oak barrels.

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Sangiacomo 2018 Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Alcohol: 14.3%

Production: 280 cases

The Sangiacomo family has been farming in Sonoma County for three generations and almost 100 years. The Vineyard is 100% certified sustainable, and it produces California Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Sangiacomo Sonoma Coast Chardonnay has aromas that bring in tea-like flavors, including nutmeg and chai, as well as the French oak in which it rested. You might also enjoy some aromas that remind us a bit of a delicious pear cobbler. It’s very rich, and was aged in the aforementioned French oak for about 10 months. The alcohol content is medium-level 14.3%, and the retail price is a reasonable $55. Only 280 cases however were produced by James MacPhail the winemaker.

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Wente Vineyards CEO Carolyn Wente receives Grande Dame Award from Les Dames d’Escoffier

Les Dames d’Escoffier International’s (LDEI) prestigious Grande Dame Award is being presented this year to Carolyn Wente, CEO of Wente Family Estates, America’s longest continuously operated family-owned winery.

LDEI is an organization of women leaders in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. Its Grande Dame Award honors a lifetime of outstanding professional achievement, excellence, and charitable/community contributions within the culinary industry and is bestowed annually. Wente, the sixteenth recipient of this international honor, receives the award at LDEI’s first virtual conference this year.

Joining the family business in the early 1980s, Wente’s culinary career in wine spans over 40 years and she is a part of the fourth generation of Wente’s family-owned vineyards, sustainably cultivating over 3,000 acres. “There are very few family businesses that survive past the third generation,” shares Wente. “I am proud to be a member of the fourth generation in a successful and growing family business in a very competitive global environment.”

Under Wente’s leadership, the company has become a world-renowned destination located in the idyllic settings of the Livermore Valley and Monterey County, California. The first step to realizing the family’s dream for a new appreciation of wine as part of America culture was the opening of the Wente Vineyards Visitors Center and Restaurant in 1986. In that same year, The Concerts at Wente Vineyards was launched featuring musical artists including James Taylor and Sheryl Crow. In 1998, an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Australian golfing great Greg Norman was developed. And in 2010, the course was awarded with the esteemed “Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary” status.

Wente has guided the expansion and growth of the Wente Family Estate’s portfolio of wines and the development of the Wente family’s lifestyle businesses for four decades. A co-founder of LDEI’s San Francisco Chapter, Wente has been a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier for 31 years and has served on the national Board of Directors as well as in San Francisco.

Wente has authored two books. In 2003, “The Casual Vineyard Table” was published, sharing wine and food pairing along with everyday meal planning. Prior to its publication, she co-authored “Sharing the Vineyard Table: A Celebration of Wine and Food from the Wente Vineyard Restaurant” with Kimball Jones.

Over the last several years, Wente has been awarded numerous honors, perhaps most notably the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World in 2002 sponsored by J.P. Morgan, Baccarat and Hermes. Additionally, she was awarded Winery CEO of the Year 2019 by North Bay Business Journal; the “20 Most Admired People in the North America Wine Industry” in 2013 from Vineyard & Winery Management; the Women Leadership Award in 2012 from Girl Scouts of America; and the American Winery of the Year Award in 2011 from Wine Enthusiast — among many others.

Wente is well-known for her generosity of time and community outreach as seen through her board service with the Stanford Athletic Advisory, the U.S. Department of State’s Fine Arts Committee, and more. She also has the distinction of being the fifth member of the Wente family to serve as Board Chair of the California Wine Institute (2014-2015).

Currently, Wente is heading efforts to meet her family’s goals for Wente Family Estates: continued business growth, strengthening the brand promise, and developing a high performing organization — each integral to ensuring transition where the fifth and future generations take over a healthy profitable business to include both family and non-family members. Wente says, “As a family, we are always pushing the quality envelope for our wines. With our lifestyle businesses, the same holds true, providing a quality experience that exceeds our guests’ expectations.”

Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) is a worldwide philanthropic organization of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality. The invitation-only membership, composed of over 2,400 women in 44 chapters across the US, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Mexico, is highly diversified and reflects the multifaceted fields of contemporary gastronomy and hospitality. For more information, visit visit ldei.org

About Wente Family Estates

Founded in 1883, Wente Vineyards has been resoundingly celebrated for its industry-wide contributions to innovation as the longest continuously-operated, family-owned winery in the country, now owned and managed by the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family.  The company portfolio is comprised of Wente Vineyards, Murrieta’s Well, Hayes Ranch, Ravel & Stitch, entwine and Angel’s Ink brands. The winery draws from certified sustainable estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay and Arroyo Seco, Monterey appellations to create an outstanding array of fine wines that are distributed in all 50 states and in over 70 countries worldwide.  In 2010, it joined the top 4 percent of  California wineries who meet all three tiers within the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing codes & designation. In 2011, Wente Family Estates was named American Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast and is among the top 30 wineries in the United States according to Wine Business Monthly, (February 2020). 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the Wente family bringing Chardonnay cuttings to California from France. Today, the Wente clones of Chardonnay are the most widely planted in California.

Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards is recognized as one of California’s premier wine country destinations. In 2018, the winery took a leadership role in its longstanding mission to inspire employees and guests to make time for what really matters, as realized through Wente Vineyards’ best practices, outstanding wines and wine country experiences. The property features wine tasting, world-class concerts, award-winning fine dining and championship golf. Wente Vineyards is also proud to have 100% estate grown wines and have the Certified Sustainable designations across their vineyards and winery through California Certified Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.

For more information, visit www.wentevineyards.com.