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GLOBALPROPERTY
SCENE ISSUE NO.
006
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In the age where everything is documented in the social media landscape
(think invasive Facebook statuses, punchy Tweets and filtered Instagram
photos), people are increasingly craving excitement, exhilaration, an
element of the unexpected—in short, people want an unforgettable
experience, an experience to truly write home about. Capitalising on this
need for adventure, hundreds of restaurants around the world have taken
a very banal and everyday notion of dining out to the extreme, by
providing their diners with a truly memorable experience.
Quirky restaurants are not necessarily a new concept—many eating
establishments have been capitalising on their unique selling points for
years, as seen with successful chains such as Hard Rock Café or TGI
Fridays with their American-themed diner experiences. However, extreme
restaurants take things a step further, pushing the boundaries in the most
unusual and unexpected ways. Although often considered something of a
‘hidden treasure’, restaurants offering a truly thrilling and unique dining
experience are not to be overlooked—there are a wide variety of
restaurants operating on every single continent offering something
special, so there is always something to suit every budget, inclination and
risk level. This article will look at some of the world’s most weird and
wonderful restaurants, oftentimes designed to test diners physically,
emotionally or gastronomically.
First on the list is arguably the most physically extreme restaurant in the
world, demanding from its visitors dedication and physical duress from the
outset. The Huashan Teahouse, a former temple, is situated at the
southernmost summit of Mount Hua in the district of Huayin, North West
China and, to paraphrase the old idiom, the adventure in this case is well
and truly in the journey. For those brave enough to take the trip, an old
rickety tram will take you up to the pathway where the adventure truly
begins—unharnessed guests have to then tiptoe across tiny wooden
planks, scale up the side of a mountain supported only by narrow
toe-holes and, if that isn’t enough, then tackle one of the world’s steepest
staircases to reach the top. Once you have recovered from the 3-5 hour
ascent, the views from the Huashan mountain are truly spectacular, and
the teahouse itself is said to serve some of the best tea in China.
However, the only downside is that you then have to repeat the same
journey in reverse to get back to solid ground, so this trip is not for the
faint-hearted! Regardless of the incredibly dangerous expedition, this
teahouse is still inundated with thousands of thrill-seekers ever year,
eager to experience what has naturally been described as one of the
world’s most dangerous hikes.
Another restaurant not for the tentative diner is found in the
neighbouring country of Japan, in Tokyo’s Usukifugu Yamadaya restaurant.
Unlike China’s mountainous tearoom, the danger here is fairly veiled.
Situated in a back street of Tokyo’s Roppongi district, and ultimately
disguised like a fairly substandard restaurant, the speciality of
Usukifugu Yamadaya is fugu, a puffer fish renowned for containing a
potent neurotoxin (hundreds of times stronger than potassium cyanide), a
A GUIDE
TO EXTREME
DINING
Words : Hannah Wilde | View : Lukas Gojda
Some restaurants take things a step further, pushing
the boundaries in the most unusual and unexpected ways

3. 41www.globalpropertyscene.com |

4. 42 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
poison that is potentially fatal if not cooked correctly. However, nervous
patrons should take comfort in the fact that you need to be fully trained
and have a license to cook fugu in Japan, and research has shown that
only 6 fugu-related deaths per year have been recorded between 1996
and 2006. Despite the potential lethality of fugu, it is considered
somewhat of a delicacy in Japan, and so this game of culinary roulette is a
must for gastronomical risk-takers.
The next physically extreme restaurant of note is in the European city
of Costa Brava in Spain. Despite the name, customers frequenting the
Disaster Café are lulled into a false sense of security—from the outside,
the restaurant looks completely normal until you step inside, where you
are greeted by staff wearing helmets and safety equipment and the food
is served in heavy reinforced dishes. The reason for this soon becomes
clear however, when suddenly during dinner, the whole restaurant
emulates a 7.8-level earthquake. Diners never know when the
promised ‘disaster’ is going to strike, but when it does, the lights go out
and everything in the restaurant moves. It is safe to say that patrons of
this café are advised not to don their finest clothes for this restaurant, as
spilled wine and slopped food is to be expected. Strangely, demand for
this restaurant is high, with reservations made up to a week in advance.
The Disaster Café is perfect for thrill-seekers who love a side order of
adrenaline with their meal, but it should be said that those with a nervous
disposition should probably pass up this particular eatery!
Another restaurant where your Sunday best attire is not advisable is Dans
Le Noir?, a restaurant chain with branches in various European cities
like London and Paris. For those ill-versed in the French language, the
translation of the restaurant’s name is simply ‘In the Dark’, which sums up
the crux of this quirky restaurant perfectly. However, far from being just a
fad, the creators of the restaurant have created a whole process that is
perfectly designed to give diners the best and most exciting experience
possible. To illustrate this process, the London restaurant in particular
requests its customers pre-order their dishes before entering the dining
room from one of three ‘secret’ menus, whereby you select either the Red,
Blue or Green menu. The colours correspond to the main component of
your meal—Red indicates meat, Blue means seafood, and Green ensures
your meal is vegetarian. From there, you are led through to the pitch-black
dining room by one of the restaurant’s servers, who are either blind or
visually impaired. This decision has been explained by the creators as “a
human exchange when, for once, the blind become our eyes to guide us
into an intriguing new way of experiencing our environment”. Then, once
seated, guests are forced to converse in complete darkness until their
food arrives. The simple premise of eating in the dark is to enhance the
idea that, if one of the human body’s five senses is removed, then the
remaining four are heightened to compensate. So theoretically, the meal
should smell and taste better without the sense of sight, which makes
dining all the more exciting when you can’t see what you are eating.
Naturally, dining at Dans Le Noir? is bound to be a messy affair, but is rich
in experience, fine food and the chance to truly see the world through the

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perspective of others.
If it is a truly sensory experience you are seeking, our next ‘restaurant’ is
another must-do. As the name suggests, ‘Dinner in the Sky’, operating in
over 45 major cities worldwide, straps diners into chairs around a
22-seater table and suspends them 150 feet in the air, providing
unparalleled panoramic views of the city sprawled out below. Each
‘restaurant’ can hold a waiter and an entertainer, as well as a chef who
cooks your meal whilst in the air. The only problem with this is you can’t
guarantee the weather, but what you can guarantee is unparalleled views,
a luxury meal, and an exhilarating adventure!
A very similar concept was adapted in the Netherlands by top Dutch chef
Angelique Shmeineck, who since 2011 has been offering a truly unique
luxury dining experience—Angelique offers 14 diners a once-in-a-lifetime
experience of a stunning three-course meal, prepared and enjoyed from
the comfort of a hot air balloon. Whilst not as exhilarating as a singular
table suspended in mid-air, nonetheless CuliAir Sky Dining offers its
guests spectacular views of the Netherlands and a luxury gastronomical
experience.
From one extreme to the other, we will now take you from the clouds right
the way down to the bottom of the sea at the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in
the Maldives. Often topping the list of the world’s most beautiful
restaurants, Ithaa is a truly revolutionary development in extreme dining as
the world’s first and only all-glass undersea restaurant. Not one for those
with a fear of confined spaces, this restaurant sits 16 feet below the surface
and offers brave diners beautiful 1800 views of the reef, with stingrays, fish
and even sharks swimming around you as you tuck into the restaurant’s
six-course contemporary European cuisine. This restaurant is incredibly
exclusive, offering only 14 tables, and the luxury fare on offer includes fois
gras, quails eggs and caviar, which only adds to the experience that can
only be found at Ithaa Undersea Restaurant.
However, if confined spaces, heights or extreme physical duress aren’t
exactly your idea of a good time, never fear—there are plenty more
restaurants for you to experience safely on ground level.
If you have a hankering for a truly unusual dining experience, the USA
is definitely home to of some of the world’s most unique and exciting
restaurants. First on the list is New York’s Ninja, designed to emulate a 15th
century Japanese feudal village. Inside, the restaurant is full of winding
passageways and dark alcoves, perfect for the waiters (all of whom are
fully trained in ancient ninja principles) to creep up on unsuspecting
guests. Similarly, the Safe House restaurant located some 880 miles away
in Milwaulkee, Wisconsin, is a self-professed “house of espionage”, and
provides its diners with an interactive and fully immersive dining
experience. Guests are put through their paces from the very beginning—
think passwords, spyholes, two-way mirrors, labyrinthine hidden

6. 44 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
passageways and secret entrances. After all this excitement, no trip to Safe
House is complete without trying the restaurant’s signature cocktail Spytini,
which sees the cocktail mix travel through an incredible 600 feet of tubing
that passes through every room in the restaurant before landing back at
the bar and poured into a glass.
If you’re looking for a more ‘traditional’ American dining experience, head
over to The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, a satirical play on America’s
culture of big portions and fast food. Gluttonous diners are given hospital
gowns and invited to tuck into the restaurant’s signature Quadruple
Bypass Burger (consisting of 4 beef patties and a whopping 20 slices of
bacon), served by waitresses who, you may have guessed, are dressed
as nurses. However, if you prefer your restaurant a bit more organic and
al fresco, a visit to the controversial Clothing Optional Diner in New York
is the perfect place to shed your inhibitions. As the name suggests, diners
are invited to remove their clothing and dine completely naked. Looking
further afield, Asia also has its fair share of unique dining establishments,
hosting perhaps some of the most kooky and unconventional restaurants
in the world. Starting off in Eastern Asia, perhaps the most well-known
restaurant on this list is The Royal Dragon in China, a tourist trap of
roller-skating waiters, zip-wiring servers and a troupe of costumed Chinese
entertainers. Whilst diners tuck into one of over 1,000 pan-Asian dishes
on offer, they are treated to an authentic display of dance, martial arts and
entertainment- a fast-moving show taking place over all 8.35 acres of the
restaurant. However, if you’re looking for something a little more unusual,
take a trip to Bangkok’s Kraton Flying Chicken restaurant where, as the
name suggests, your food becomes the entertainment. In a situation that
can only be seen to be believed, this restaurant sees cooked chickens set
on fire, catapulted through the air, and skewered on the spiked helmets
of unicycle-riding waiters and delivered to your table. But if you prefer
animals of the more cuddly variety, The Kayabukiya Tavern in Japan may
be the place for you. This restaurant is the home to two miniature waiters—
Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, two uniformed Japanese macaque monkeys.
Well known for their love of people, Yat-chan takes drink orders, whereas
Fuku-chan gives diners a hot towel. Here, service with a smile is
guaranteed, and the monkeys are tipped handsomely with soya beans for
their trouble—Rest assured though, the monkeys are very well treated, so
come and meet Yat-chan and Fuku-chan for a truly unique dining
experience.
A little closer to home, Europe too offers a range of opportunities for
unusual dining. One of the most surreal dining experiences is found in
Volterra, Italy, with a restaurant located within an actual top-security prison.
Diners at Fortezza Medicea are served by actual prison inmates who are
facing no less than a seven-year sentence, so it is no real surprise that this
is perhaps one of the only restaurants in the world that require guests

7. 45www.globalpropertyscene.com |
off at Cornwall’s Museum of Celebrity Leftovers, which is dedicated to the
presentation of various leftover food articles like crusts of bread and
coffee-stained napkins once belonging to the restaurant’s celebrity
clientele, including Prince Charles, singer Pete Doherty and renowned
photographer David Bailey.
If celebrity spotting is more your thing, a little shy of 100 miles away in
Berkshire is situated another of Europe’s most interesting dining
experiences, perfect for the adventurous eater. Whilst on the outside The
Fat Duck restaurant looks like a standard three Michelin-star restaurant,
inside is home to a true gastronomical adventure. Unsurprisingly, this
restaurant is spearheaded by notorious experimental chef Heston
Blumenthal, and it’s now iconic 14-course tasting menu has been known to
feature such culinary fares as snail porridge, Alice in Wonderland-inspired
mock turtle soup, and finished off with the likes of egg-and-bacon ice
cream. This restaurant is fast becoming as famous as its head chef, with a
repertoire of celebrity clientele and even its coveted status as
(surprisingly!) the fastest restaurant in the United Kingdom to earn three
Michelin stars.
Whatever your taste, budget or inclination, there is without a doubt a
restaurant to suit you. However, this begs the question: are you brave
enough to go extreme?
undertake a background check before entering. To heighten the prison
experience, guests are provided with plastic cutlery, but luckily handcuffs
and prison food are nowhere to be seen. Meant as a rehabilitation
programme, this restaurant has since gained a reputation for delicious
gourmet food and a unique atmosphere, albeit with armed guards and a
strict ‘no mobile phone’ policy. Not deterred by this altogether
unprecedented restaurant, diners are eager to experience a taste of prison
life, as Fortezza Medicea often boasts a waiting list of up to two weeks for
a reservation. However, if you want a unique prison experience sans the
inmates, head to the Malmaison Hotel in Oxford, England, where this
converted prison offers diners the chance to eat haute cuisine in the
confines of a former prison. Customers here can rest assured—far from
handcuffs, cell and inmates, the only thing this Malmaison ‘prison’ offers is
luxury dining and gorgeous architectural features.
Mainland Europe has its fair share of culinary experiences for the daring
diner. From Amsterdam’s Kinderkookkafe, where everything is cooked and
served by children, to La Lucha Libre in France (a celebration of Mexican
cuisine and wrestling, where guests can eat, drink and either watch or take
part in a wrestling match in the ring in the middle of the restaurant), Europe
truly has something for everyone. If apples are your thing, a trip to Pomze
in Paris is a must, using 120 varieties of apples in every one of its menu
items. Or, if the English seaside is something you enjoy, be sure to stop

8. 71www.globalpropertyscene.com |
WHAT’S
THE
ALTERNATIVE?
Words : Hannah Wilde | View : Thomas Zsebok
Fine wine benefits from a vast and comprehensive
market, but does it make for a better investment rather
than a consumable?
Wine. For many, this word invokes thoughts of an enjoyable addition to a
sumptuous meal, or even a rare indulgence when one craves a little treat.
But for others, wine is not just for the enjoyment of the drinker—instead,
a new appreciator comes in the form of investors, as keen to collect fine
wine as connoisseurs are to drink it.
Investment in fine wine is by no means a new venture. The market has
been recognised as far back as the 16th century, and if you are an investor
of fine wine you’d be in good company: the likes of Samuel Pepys and
Thomas Jefferson themselves are known as early acquirers of luxury wine.
However, not all wine can be classified as ‘fine’ and thus tradable as an
investment commodity—in fact, only a tiny fraction (less than 0.1%) of the
global market is deemed to be of investment quality. Additionally, only
select vineyards and regions produce investment-quality wine, with the
likes of Bordeaux, Rhône and Burgundy often topping the list. But why
invest in wine? As well as widely appealing to oenophiles (the name given
to wine aficionados), fine wine investment also works as a sound portfolio
diversifier for the most seasoned and savvy investor because of its
stability, capacity for price appreciation, and a proven track record for
providing a stable hedge against recession, inflation, currency devaluation
and movements in financial markets. Furthermore, expensive wine has
incredible longevity, as it is an appreciating asset that matures and
improves with age, and so boasts long-term prospects for its
investors.
What’s more, fine wine benefits from a vast and comprehensive market,
with only a finite amount of top-shelf wine produced to satiate a growing
demand. Because of this imbalance between finite production and almost
insatiable consumer demand, it is no surprise that the price of many
exclusive vintages have risen in value by more than 250% over the past
decade alone. Such a limited supply further fuels both investor and buyer
appetites, so from an investment standpoint the capital appreciation that
can be gained by investing in a restricted (and highly sought-after) asset
can oftentimes be incredibly lucrative.
Therefore, for relative novices in the profitable market of fine wine

9. 72 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
investment, you don’t need to know everything there is to know about
vineyards, vintages or grand vins—it is a fairly accessible market, espe-
cially if you enlist the help of specialist wine merchants (who can come
at a cost of around a 10-15% margin). Investment wines generally come in
two types: matured, and en primeur. As the name suggests, the former is
a wine that has enjoyed the full fermenting process and been bottled as
per the age-old method of the individual winemaker. The latter, however,
is a relatively new addition to the wine market, whereby investors can pur-
chase wine en primeur—that is, the act of purchasing wine early before it
has been matured and bottled. Naturally, this is the cheapest point to buy
wine because the contents of the barrel have not yet reached maturity
and the final blend and oak-ageing process has not been fully completed.
However this also carries an element of risk, because the actual bottled
product could turn out better or worse than the initial barrel suggests.
Buying wine en primeur is not for the faint-hearted investor, since it poses
a high risk-reward ratio—before the product is bottled you cannot fully
guarantee its value, but on the flipside wine en primeur also has the
capability to exceed expectations and yield even higher returns for the
investor.
If taking risks is not your thing, never fear: Wine offers plenty of options
for stable and secure returns if you invest in a tried-and-tested region.
Selecting wines from prestigious regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy,
the Rhône, Champagne and Tuscany means that your money is relatively
safe, since investing in produce from châteaux in any of these eminent
and celebrated winemaking districts is a sure-fire way to generate
excellent returns.
Arguably the top region in the world is Bordeaux, a name synonymous
with producing some of the best wines in the world. Therefore
unsurprisingly, wines from the Bordeaux region have continued to be the
most popular for investors. The region has more than 100 châteaux which
produce a number of world-renowned names, and its market has been
regulated for over 150 years. Bordeaux is an incredibly transparent
and engaging wine production market, with all of the region’s wines
categorised into five distinct classifications. The crème de la crème of
the Bordeaux market are the First Growths (containing incredible brands
such as Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild), followed by Super Seconds
(including Pontet-Canet and Cos d’Estrournel), then the Third, Fourth
and Fifth Growths respectively. The world’s most well-known wines are
produced in Bordeaux’s First Growth, with the aforementioned Margaux
and Lafite-Rothschild joining ranks with Latour, Mouton-Rothschild and
Haut-Brion to create the ‘blue-chips’ of the wine world. It is not surprising
then that these First Growths are both investor and connoisseur
favourites, especially since First Growths particularly boast stable average
returns of 10-15% per annum over a long-term (5-10+ year) basis. To
reaffirm the prosperity of Bordeaux fine wines, 2010 saw a bottle of 1869
Châteu Lafite-Rothschild sold at auction for a massive £144,269, one of
the most expensive bottles ever sold. This is not to say that all Bordeaux
wines will fetch as much, but justifiably Bordeaux has gained a firm
reputation for its consistently high-quality produce and proven track
record on the market, reinforcing its relative safety as an appreciating and
highly sought-after asset.
Unsurprisingly, many investors look to Bordeaux because of its excellent
reputation and its highly popular produce, but in recent years as the
emerging wine market has matured and developed, interest in other
established wine-making regions has increased. It seems that the taste of
buyers and wine connoisseurs alike are maturing for regions outside of
Bordeaux, and recent years have seen an interesting diversification in the
secondary market. The ‘next big thing’ in the wine market is arguably
found in Burgundy, with both the top red and white Burgundy wines
having been known to generate some of the highest prices when sold at
auction. Much like the limited production found in Bordeaux, the wines
of Burgundy are delivered in tiny quantities—this in turn helps to fuel
the region’s success, as their scarcity on the open market leads to an
influx in demand. Burgundy is home to a number of estates that produce
incredible wines, including Domaines de la Romanée, Armand Rousseaux,
Leroy, Dujac, Georges Roumier and Jacques-Frédéric Nugnier to name
but a few. Top-end Burgundies, because of their limited supply, have been
known to generate astronomical prices for particular vintages, with a case
of Henri Jaycer being known to fetch over £50,000.
However, the thing that it is important to remember when investing in
wine is that, although Bordeaux and Burgundy have a proven track record
of producing excellent vintages, diversification is the key for savvy wine
investors. As with anything, a diverse investment portfolio is pivotal to the
continued success of your investments, and this is particularly true in the

10. 73www.globalpropertyscene.com |
Bordeaux,
France

11. 74 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
fine wine market. A select few vintages from Bordeaux and Burgundy
should form the basis of any wine portfolio, but truly seasoned wine
aficionados should know to look outside the most popular regions to
offer sufficient portfolio differentiation. Other regions like the Rhône
Valley, various Italian regions and even unlikely producers in the USA and
Australia have been known to produce wines strong enough to command
high prices and garner an excellent reputation in the wine world. But then,
this poses the question—how do I know which wine to invest in?
In this instance, the simple answer is to listen to the expert. For those not
fluent in the language of fine wine, Robert Parker Jr. is a renowned wine
critic and self-confessed oenophile who has singlehandedly
revolutionised the fine wine market. Having developed a stringent ‘100
point rating system’ known unsurprisingly as The Parker System, Parker
himself visits each château in the region and tastes their current en
primeur offerings, then rates each vintage out of 100. Unlike most
landscapes like film or music, where a cacophony of voices and opinions
are rarely ever harmonious, in the wine world Parker is the singular
authoritative voice—his rating is used throughout the industry to dictate
price and quality. Parker’s opinion is so highly regarded in the wine
community that a study has shown that ‘The Parker Effect’ has been
known to influence the value of a wine by on average 15%. A classic
example of this was when Parker awarded a perfect 100 score to a 2009
Pontet-Canet from Bordeaux, its price rose from £1,100 to £1,800 literally
overnight. Therefore, novice wine investors should always look to Mr
Parker for advice on which wines to invest in, as his scores are an excellent
benchmark to measure current and future success of the existing
in-demand wines.
In addition to the expertise of Robert Parker Jr., investors in the fine wine
market also have other invaluable resources at their fingertips to assess
where next to invest. London International Vintners Exchange, often
referred to by the acronym Liv-ex, is an online trading platform (similar to
those seen on Wall Street) that provides a good indicator for private
investors to check the prices on virtually all fine wines on the market.
Similarly, website Wineowners.com is another resource perfectly placed
to help investors keep track of their wine investments, as well as allowing
them to access wine information and prices, and even giving suggestions
on when certain wines are at their most opportune for drinking.
Unsurprisingly for such a luxury asset, experts have suggested that to build
up a diversified portfolio of high-yielding fine wines, investors may initially
have to be willing to spend in the tens of thousands. Furthermore, wine
investment is a long-term strategy, meaning that investors are agreeing to
lock away their assets for at least 5-10 years before seeing any feasible
financial returns. However, the general consensus for wine investment is
that fine wine demands investors to speculate in order to accumulate, so
any investor serious in using wine as a strategy for wealth accumulation

12. 75www.globalpropertyscene.com |
must be willing to spend money to make money. So just what does a typical
wine portfolio look like? Like the idiom ‘how long is a piece of string’, a wine
investment portfolio can take on any capacity you want, depending on
factors like available capital and what the investor would like their assets to
yield. But for illustrative purposes, Vin-X, a leading wine investment
company, have shown what a typical portfolio looks like with a starting
budget of £10,000 and £25,000 respectively.
A £10,000 budget sounds like a substantial sum of money, but in the wine
world it is just a drop in the ocean. A relatively safe investment portfolio
with a £10,000 starting budget would limit investors to the region of
Bordeaux, investing in two First Growths (one case of Château Margaux
and one of Châteaux Lafite-Rothschild) and one Bordeaux Super Second,
in the form of a Château Pontet-Canet. However, a £25,000 starting budget
allows for a more diversified portfolio, with three First Growths (Margaux,
Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild), a Second Growth through Cos
d’Estrournel, a Bordeaux Right Bank (Ch. Cheval Blanc), a Champagne vin-
tage (Dom Pérignon Rosé) and a Rhône (Guigal La Mouline). Although this is
just a guideline, as you can see the more starting capital you have for your
wine portfolio, the more diversity you can achieve without
compromising your returns.
Once you have selected your wines, the next thing to remember with wine
investment is the ancillary costs you will accrue along the way.
Unlike stocks and shares, fine wine is a tangible asset which takes
maintenance to ensure it maintains its worth. Any wine connoisseur worth
their salt will know that with fine wine in particular, two factors are of the
upmost importance: proving the wine’s provenance, and ensuring that it
has been correctly stored. Intrinsically linked, these two factors can
guarantee the maximum investment returns when the wine is ready to be
sold.
The provenance of the wine (that is, its history of purchase and
storage transactions) is pivotal to buyers of fine wine because they want
to ensure that the bottles have not been in any way tampered with, and
thus that the content is at its highest quality. In order to ensure complete
transparency in the wine’s provenance, its storage is equally important—
it is advisable that all fine wine, particularly those used as investment
assets, are stored professionally in a specialist temperature-controlled
bonded warehouse. Keeping the wine in storage has a number of
advantages, not least ensuring the bottles’ contents are kept at the
ideal temperature and humidity. Furthermore, a storage facility not only
preserves the wine itself but also its status as a tradable commodity, since
buyers will not pay top dollar for a wine that they believe may have been
compromised. Although there is a minute cost attached to keeping your
wine in storage (which is around £15 per case), placing your wine in a
bonded warehouse in the UK means that the wine is held ‘in bond’,
therefore making it free of duty and VAT tax. Additionally, wine is
Private wine merchant,
Bordeaux

13. 76 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
pigeonholed as a ‘perishable item’ in the UK, so investors of fine wine are
also exempt from Capital Gains Tax, as well as the tax benefits of holding
wine in professional storage. But when considering ancillary costs,
investors cannot forget expenses like insurance, shipping costs and
handling/administration costs, so ensure to factor in these one-off costs
when considering investing in wine.
Ease of market penetration, generally excellent investment returns,
relatively low start-up costs and selected tax benefits, mean that it should
come as no surprise that wine investment has gone from strength to
strength in the past decade. To reaffirm the market’s success, Liv-ex has
measured a price growth of fine wines of 150% over the past 10 years.
Yet this is expected to be just the beginning. It has been predicted that
the global consumption growth rate is expected to be 6.17% over the
next 5 years, so not only is the price of fine wine increasing, demand is
skyrocketing too. From this perspective then, it looks like there has never
been a better time to invest in the fine wine market. Industry experts have
long since vouched for the inclusion of wine in any investment portfolio
as a sound (and oftentimes financially viable) diversifier, with professionals
citing that collectible assets should comprise between 3-8% of a typical
investor portfolio.
Additionally, as well as being viewed as a financially viable investment
strategy, fine wine investment does have an element of the fun factor
about it—it is not for nothing that wine has been named a ‘passion
investment’. Not surprisingly, Knight Frank’s 2013 Wealth Report indicated
that fine wine was considered in the top three investments of passion,
alongside fine art and watches, as investment in wine by high net worth
individuals increased 10% on average in 2012. Experts too are
increasingly enamoured with this asset class, which is growing
stronger year-on-year. Fine wine is a luxury product that many aspire
to own, consume and know more about, with Richard Taffler, Professor
of Finance at Warwick Business School attesting: “Passion assets are
perceived as making powerful statements about their personal values,
characteristics and expertise of their owners and how they want to be
seen”. For many, fine wine suggests luxury, prestige and expense, which
only further enamours investors to the fine wine market. Sara Guiducci,
a wine expert at Berry Bros. & Rudd even admits: “There is an inherent
enjoyment factor with wine collecting”.
Although a lot can be said for the benefits of investing in fine wine, it has
to be said that, like all investments, assets like wine do come with some
risks too. The wine market, whilst relatively stable and trading on its high
buyer demand cannot be wholly predictable—like wines en primeur, vin-
tages that hypothetically should yield high returns sometimes don’t, but
you simply cannot predict the success of the wine until it goes to market.
So from an investor perspective, it is hard to quantify what will work
and what will not. Of course though, as with anything, you can make an
educated guess on what will yield good returns, either capitalising on
the recommendations of experts or looking back at historical data of
which regions have generated good vintages in the past. As previously
mentioned, wines produced in tried-and-tested regions like Bordeaux
are always generally a safer bet, but it does have to be said that even the
mighty Bordeaux wines are also susceptible to their off-seasons. Whilst
Bordeaux should form the basis of most wine investors’ portfolios (de-
mand means that it will always get sold, as it can always be traded on its
great name and even greater reputation), but at what margin is somewhat
of a risk in a market that cannot always guarantee consistent prices.
Additionally, fine wine is not like other tangible assets. Like property
(where exactly what you see is what you get), wine has a number of
factors that affect its sellable status, from climate and the age of the vines,
down to the genetics of the grape and the soil used by each particular
château. Therefore experts have advised that investors should restrict
their holding in fine wine to no more than 25% of their overall investment
portfolio.
After all is said and done, fine wine in theory makes for a good and
financially sound investment choice—the truly great thing about investing
in a tangible asset is that if one particular wine doesn’t yield the returns
you were expecting, you can always drink the negative equity. From
this mindset, your asset is never truly wasted, which is one of the many
positives of investing in a ‘passion investment’. To paraphrase top wine
investment company Cult Wines “equities can go bust and bonds can
default, but a bottle of Mouton Rothschild will always be a bottle of
Mouton Rothschild”.
Private wine merchant,
Bordeaux

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15. 80 | www.globalpropertyscene.com
Q
Words : Hannah Wilde
It’s time for GPS to answer some of our readers
most pressing questions
Q.
I am thinking of investing in a property in Manchester, England, but
as I live in the USA it is not possible for me to visit the site—Can I still
invest blind?
A.
Yes, you can invest in property in any country without having visited the
site before purchase, but it is always advisable to do your research in your
chosen country before you invest. If you can’t visit the site personally, be
sure that you are familiar with the area you are investing in, and ensure
that you use a reputable property investment company who have a proven
track record producing high-yielding stock in the city that you are looking
to invest in. Any questions you have should be answered by a property
consultant, who is there to guide you through your investment process,
especially if you cannot visit the property personally.
Q.
When considering which properties to invest in, should I be
concentrating more on yield or capital growth?
A.
Both of these aspects are very important in property investment—yields
are the amount of rental income you receive from your property less
any expenditure, whereas capital growth (or capital appreciation) is the
increase in price between when you purchased your property and when
you are looking to sell. Yields are a short-to medium-term return that you
receive every month throughout the lifecycle of your property, whereas
capital growth is a long-term return that accumulates over time that you
can only access when you sell your property. The perfect investment
should give you both competitive yields throughout your investment and
capital growth in the long-term when you sell—the best way to ensure
that you get both of these returns is choosing an investment in a popular
location, so you can be sure of both rental demand and eventual house
price rises.
Q.
I am looking to invest for the first time but I don’t have my own solici-
tor, will this be a problem?
A.
Whilst you are always free to use your own solicitor when exchanging
&
A

16. 81www.globalpropertyscene.com |
developments but still yield excellent returns on investment because of
their high demand.
Q.
Can I use my pension to invest?
A.
Yes. The UK pension landscape has changed as of April 2015 to allow
those nearing retirement age to release equity from their pension
without having to buy an annuity. UK residents over the age of 55 can
release 25% of their pension fund tax-free, with the remaining lump sum
taxable at the pension-holder’s marginal rate of income tax. Because of
these changes in regulations, many pensioners are looking to the
lucrative buy-to-let market to further invest their pension, but it is
advisable to speak to a financial advisor before withdrawing any money
from a regulated pension fund to invest in property.
contracts on a property investment, most reputable investment companies
offer recommended solicitors that you can utilise to finalise your
paperwork. Solicitors personally recommended by your investment agent
are generally more familiar with the procedures of buy-to-let legalities, so
they are better placed to process your investment in the quickest possible
timeframe.
Q.
Is it true that the more you invest, the more returns you gain?
A.
Not necessarily. With property investment, the returns you are expected to
receive depend on a number of factors including location and condition of
the property. If you choose your investment carefully and are sure that your
property is in excellent condition and in a highly in-demand location, you
can generally be sure that your property will always offer good returns. For
example, in the UK market particularly, the majority of student
accommodation developments are significantly cheaper than residential
Q.
What are the differences between buying a normal residential property
to live in (e.g. my house) and an investment property?
A.
Buying a property will be one of the major investments in your life. You will
always want to ensure that the property is good value for money; that it
is in the right location, that it’s structurally sound; that the finances are in
order; that the lawyers are happy with it.
When you buy a property for investment purposes however, you will be
driven by slightly different factors to a dwelling for you and your family to
live in. You may not even have seen the property due to its distance from
you, if so, you need to be able to trust the selling agents as well as the
developers. Your main priorities will normally be to get a good return, over
and above a bank deposit account, competent management of the tenant
and the property; and a secure knowledge that you can exit when you
want to.
If you are looking for a guaranteed yield period, then you will looking for
the best investment scheme, having applied the factors outlined above, in
particular the credentials of the agent and the solicitor. Some deals look
too good to be true, you will want to be satisfied that the agent has played
‘devil’s advocate’ and vetted the financials and the status of the
developers themselves and can still support it.
ASK THE EXPERT
When you get the paperwork from your solicitor, you will find that it is bulky
and probably hard to understand – you will need to have the confidence
that your solicitor has been through it all with a fine tooth comb and is
happy with recommending it to you. A typical investment scheme
purchase is far more complex than a conventional buy to let, and requires
specialist lawyers to handle it. Their job will be to summarise the
complexities of the title into plain, simple English in as short a format as
possible so that you can understand at a glance the points you need to
know.
You will be under time pressure to exchange and will want your solicitor
to be efficient, responsive and be mindful of the timescale. If you have
concerns and need to raise questions, you will expect a prompt and full
response from a seasoned professional. You will of course expect any deal
you have done with the agents to be enshrined in the legal paperwork.
Some deals have exit strategies, called ‘Pre-emptions’, ‘Call Options’ or
‘Put Options’. Again you will need to know exactly what these entail so you
can address any possible downside.
In recent years, investment scheme purchases have been increasingly
popular and have been a good investment for many buyers. The key is
trust; trust the competence of your agent, the developers and your lawyers
and you will have the best possible chance of making good money with a
secure exit.
*These questions and answers are provided for general information only and may not be
completely accurate in every circumstance.