Know your broker. Always buy only from a wine brokerage firm whom you know to be reliable, never from new or unproven brokers.

Get it on track. Never buy until you know that the wine has an excellent auction track record in markets such as the USA and Asia. If a broker offers you a wine without a proven track record, he is gambling with your money and your wines.

Buy low. Low price offered by the wine broker to its clients — the wholesale price as it were. Thus the maximum potential for growth (and profit) comes when one is able to buy direct from the broker and in reasonably substantial quantities.

Minimum sum. Typically, an initial investment would be around S$10,000 and the investor will usually familiarise himself with a range of fine wines by attending wine tastings and appreciation classes. With AWI, this sum includes procurement shipping, three years of storage and insurance. Wines are kept at the temperature-controlled Menlo Worldwide Logistics facility in Boon Lay Way. Investors do not have to pay taxes as long as their bottles don’t leave the warehouse.