Tired of checking the gyrations of the stock market and loving wine, the collector in you might want to step in the mysterious world of Wine Trading with Liv-ex Fine Wine Market (UK based).
For example instead of America's Most Wanted, you'll learn about 2008 Bordeaux Most Traded (May 2009).
Their most recent piece is on Fine Wine and Transparency (June 17) which notes that "the wine trade is reorganising itself along financial market lines with
transparent buy (bid) and sell (offer) prices and an emphasis on
charging commissions rather than making margin."
For wine lovers and collectors, they mention the launch in July 2009 of The Vinfolio Marketplace in the US. The graphic below (from Vinfolio site) illustrates how it will work.
I did not realize immediately that beyond the blog, Liv-ex is also an online marketplace for wine.
In the right column of their site, the Recent Trades box for the UK tells you what's up, what's flat, what's down.
I visited Live-ex Fine Wine Market after seeing it recommended on Twitter by no other than Jancis Robinson. She observes (on June 17) that it is not just California real estate that stopped bubbling, its wine prices are softening.