Fine wine investment firm Vint launches new retail site

US fine wine company Vint has launched a new retail platform, Vint Marketplace, selling hard-to-find fine wines and spirits to US consumers in an accessible way, as well as providing an exit channel for some of the investments the company controls. 

The retail sales site, which is now live, promises ‘full vertical integration’ within the company, as well as providing consumer driven insight, the company told Decanter.

Parent company Vint was established in the US in 2019 by Nick King and Patrick Sanders and launched in May 2020, vowing to “bring the fine wine sector kicking into the 21st century”. The model allows investors to buy shares  in curated wine collections, which are backed up by regulatory body, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), which allowed investors to add their Vint portfolio to their individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Share are held for around 3-7 years to maximize returns, after which, Vint works with partners, auction houses, and private buyers to sell assets within each collection and distribute proceeds on a pro-rata basis.

At the time, King told the drinks business that the team were developing a secondary trading market that would make it possible for people to trade their shares on the Vint platform.

The new retail site lists around 4,000 drinks, collectively worth around $18m – although it warns customers that many of the products are stored in Europe  and therefore not available for immediate delivery. Customers can order through the website or email the client team with a list of wines they want to buy.

Wines currently listed on the site includes a 2009 Domaine Leroy, Musigny Grand Cru ($102,923); a 2019 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanee-Conti Grand Cru (3x750ml: $150,000); a 1999 Petrus, Pomerol  ($19,297) , 1975 Dom Perignon, P3 1x750ml ($16,596); as well as whiskies NV Macallan, Highland Single Malt The Red Collection 78YO Bottled 2020 ($162,500) and NV Karuizawa Sapphire Geisha Cask 36 YO 5077 ($61,250) and 2014 Pappy Van Winkle Straight Bourbon Family Reserve 15YO 1x750ml ($2,827). 

Vint’s head of wine Adam Lapierre MW told Decanter that  being in touch with end consumers through the retail site would broaden the team’s outlook on what makes an investment grade wine. “So from the perspective of domestic wines or less traditional wine investments, it gives us a different consumer driven insight,” he said.

Lapierre was appointed in June last year to oversee the expansion of the business, with a new focus on increasing supplier network and engaging directly with producers from both core fine wine regions on Vint, as well as emerging regions for fine wine, such as South America, he told db.

“Our primary focus is definitely what we call the core or trending regions of the world as they relate to investment grade fine wine – Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany and Piedmont are all major focal points, Napa and other areas in the rest of the world are also important,” he said at the time. “We’re [also] engaging with some iconic producers in South America, where we feel that quality to price ratio is very high.”