SPAIN'S PARADORES

“Austria may not be as well known for its viticultural traditions as are France, Italy or Spain, but its winemaking dates back to Roman times and is very well-established, producing excellent white and red wines in denominated regions. The best-known white wine region in Austria is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Wachau in Lower Austria, which stretches for 35 kilometres along the Danube. Here there are around 1,344 hectares of vineyards where the internationally known ‘Grüner Veltliner’ is produced.”

Terroir is of great importance for the quality and value of a wine, as can be seen in the case of the Wachau, where a special microclimate, soil composition as well as the cultivation of vines on terraces results in exceptional wines. “The interest in acquiring wine estates in regions such as this has been consistent for a long time now, and we advise buyers and investors on all the practicalities involved, though supply is very limited.”

Peter Marschall

Marschall Immobilien Vienna, AUSTRIA

Glorious Austrian scenery

How does an investor make a vineyard a profitable business?

“These days, the route to success is through quality production and also excellent marketing,” says Peter Marschall. “Vineyards are real trophy assets,” adds Giancarlo Bracco, “but they can also have excellent investment potential, so are hotly in demand, especially among Chinese, Russian and Middle Eastern buyers. Moreover, the authorities provide support for this sector in Sardinia, yet when investing in a winery the most important consideration is the location – firstly the quality of the terroir, but also if the winery has an established name or has to create a brand. Knowing about the niche in which to slot helps to define the output, with a minimum of one million bottles per year a required critical mass, and nowadays sustainable production and organic certification also greatly add value.”

Having developed a very specialised business niche "Vineyards and Wineries" in the main wine-producing countries of Europe and South America, it has led us to have global international expertise of this sector to advise investors interested in diversifying their wine production to different wine regions around the world. The dream of a Winery in Patagonia, a Château in Bordeaux, a Quinta in the Douro and a Masía by the Mediterranean is an easy cross over deal now.

Puri Mancebo

Rimontgó Valencia, SPAIN

Cellar DOC Rioja

Hectares of vineyard

“The reasons for investing in a winery are diverse, however, we have observed the following main trends: some people want a change in their lifestyle for a breath of fresh air that will bring a new routine; others seek the benefits that can be earned from winemaking; some people will fully enjoy managing a small winery, while others will request large-volume wineries to expand their existing wine business. At Rimontgó we have experience selecting the most appropriate properties depending on our clients’ requirements. We have wineries that cater to any preferences in Spain, Portugal, South of France, Chile and Argentina”.

Puri Mancebo

Rimontgó Valencia, SPAIN

WORDS: MICHEL CRUZ

CLASSIC CAR AUCTIONS

As ‘rolling’ works of art, classic cars have long fascinated those in a position to own and collect them. Paraded and shown off at refined events such as the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como, Pebble Beach (California) and other international concours d’elegance, such vehicles are not generally bought at dealerships, but more typically at specialist auctions. Peter Haynes of RM Sotheby’s, the classic car division of the famous auction house, explains how.

American opulence at its best, the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

Once just a folly of pleasure – the desire to own beautiful, enjoyable things – classic car collecting has followed in the footsteps of fine art to also become a highly lucrative form of investment that can provide excellent returns for those who understand its dynamics. “Like any market, demand and values will vary over time, as the tastes of successive generations change,” says Peter Haynes, PR & Marketing Director of RM Sotheby’s, “but the global market for collector cars is both large and growing. It has become an important business that has seen a truly impressive increase in transactions and prices over the past decade.” His division of Sotheby’s specialises exclusively in the sale of classic vehicles and related collectibles, and runs many of its auctions parallel to events such as the concours d’elegance of Pebble Beach, Amelia Beach or Villa d’Este, or indeed the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. “They are gatherings that attract affluent car collectors, and the auctions themselves are typically two-day events consisting of a preview day and a sale day.”

“Classic cars are a delight and a pleasure for many affluent collectors, but they have also been performing very well as investment assets in recent years.”

Ueli Schnorff

WETAG Consulting SA Canton Ticino, SWITZERLAND

Detail from the Art Deco era – 1933 Cadillac V12 All Weather Phaeton

“…but the global market for collector cars is both large and growing. It has become an important business that has seen a truly impressive increase in transactions and prices over the past decade.”

AN INVESTMENT BUILT ON PASSION

Though returns can be impressive, Peter Haynes and his team encourage buyers to acquire classic cars first and foremost out of a love of these objets d’art, and not primarily from an ROI perspective. He explains that “genuine love of cars is what makes the market stable, whereas pure investment brings speculators into it and produces periods of unsustainable price inflation.” In spite of this danger, which can affect virtually every kind of asset class, the history of the classic car market shows that these are in fact very stable assets, making this a fun and rewarding one to be active in. In keeping with the origins of most of the cars being traded, the main market has always been North America and Europe, though Asia has long been important too. “The heritage of classic cars is mainly European and American, and while you may think that most buyers now come from the Middle East and China, there is a good geographical spread, with the traditional markets still very strong too. At our auctions, it is quite normal to see bidders from more than 40 countries represented, so it is a truly global market with its roots in Europe and North America. That said, the greatest growth continues to come from Asia and the Middle East.”

NEW TRENDS

Peter Haynes confirms that Covid has certainly produced a challenge for an event-based industry such as classic car sales. “As with other sectors, it forced the market to evolve, and the adoption of new technologies and move online was accelerated. RM Sotheby’s adapted quickly and we were able to perform well over the past two years, despite the challenges.” Now that live events are back alongside online ones, and greater confidence in the economy has returned, the sector feels buoyant as it looks towards a strong 2022.

Other new trends include the increasing geographical spread of buyers, selling venues and events, as well as the way in which people will choose to buy collectible cars. “There will also undoubtedly be evolutions in tastes and preferences, as we’ve seen in previous decades, while other developments include the acceptance of cryptocurrency and NFTs as a form of payment, but as we’re speaking about an industry with a certain nostalgic essence, the appeal of the classical elegance of both the concours d’elegance and the beautiful works of engineering themselves will remain as strong as ever.”

www.rmsothebys.com

A treat for lovers of classic cars The market for classic cars has grown a lot, offering fun and good investments

One of the few places to find classic cars, such as this 1933 Auburn Twelve Salon Pheaton

TECH – THE FUTURE OF INVESTMENT AND GROWTH

WORDS: MICHEL CRUZ

It seems that tech is all around us these days – in news about scientific developments, new gadgets and also the huge investment flowing into start-ups, some of which are becoming ‘unicorns’ – privatelyheld companies worth $1 billion or more. Is this the dawning of a new technological era?

The end of the nineties brought the Internet, a revolutionary new technology and resource that sparked a ‘.com’ investment frenzy, which boiled over in the early 2000s with the .doc crash. The online world has since come to dominate things and changed the way we learn, interact and work, and it has been added to by all manner of apps (applications), which along with online businesses such as Amazon and Google have grown astronomically from obscure little start-ups to huge new corporations. Now, as one of them, Facebook, has recently announced a name change to Meta Platforms, we ponder the next stage in this New Machine Age, and a new era of technological development that is bringing next-generation development in AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), AI (artificial intelligence) and just about smart-everything with it. Sensors providing machinery with up to the second information are now as common as lightbulbs once were, and they form the basis for everything from smart (information-interactive) cities to AI machinery and autonomous driving.