Vinovest review
- Stock trade fee
- Minimum deposit
- $1,000
Our verdict
Diversify your portfolio with Vinovest's investment-grade wine and whiskey offerings.
Consider Vinovest if you want a professionally-managed portfolio of investment-grade wine or whiskey or want to trade wine on a secondary market. Look elsewhere if you want to purchase shares in collections of wine and whiskey instead of owning the bottles outright.
Best for: Any investor looking to diversify with wine or whiskey investments.
How we rated Vinovest’s features
| Fees | ★★★★★ | Management fee starts at 2.5% annually for a managed account, while trading accounts incur a 2.5% buy-side trading fee, a 1% sell-side trading fee and a 1.5% yearly storage fee. |
| Available securities | ★★★★★ | Invest in wine and whiskey. |
| Customer support | ★★★★★ | You can only contact customer support via an online ticket, and response times can take up to 48 hours. We received a response to a question within 30 minutes. |
| Mobile app | ★★★★★ | High ratings from both Apple and Android users. |
| Research and tools | ★★★★★ | Vinovest provides information about each investment, including why it’s buying and investing, a region summary and a critics’ score. |
| Reliability | ★★★★★ | No major outages have been reported. |
To learn how our star ratings are calculated, read our methodology at the bottom of the page.
Vinovest is best for investors looking to diversify with wine or whiskey investments
If you’re an everyday investor looking for a simple way to gain direct exposure to investment-grade wine and whiskey — whether to diversify your portfolio or for its attractive historical returns or both — Vinovest is an option worth considering. Its user-friendly platform and simple click-to-invest approach provide an uncomplicated investing experience, which is attractive and helpful to investors who want to branch out into alternative assets.
What you can trade on Vinovest
- Wine
- Whiskey
Account types available with Vinovest
- Individual trading or managed accounts
Where Vinovest shines
Vinovest has helped make the once-exclusive world of fine wine and whiskey investing accessible to a wider group of investors. It offers:
- Investments available to all investors, accredited or not.
- A straightforward signup process you can complete in minutes.
- A beginner-friendly platform.
- The ability to sell your wine or whiskey anytime you want.
With the choice between a no-minimum trading account that lets you trade bottles of wine like stocks or a professionally managed account with a curated portfolio of whiskey and wine holdings, investors have multiple options for building fully insured fine wine and whiskey portfolios. And Vinovest handles all the sourcing, purchasing, storing and insuring of your wine or whiskey.
Where Vinovest falls short
Vinovest requires a $1,000 minimum for its managed wine portfolios and a $1,750 minimum for its managed whiskey portfolios, which may keep the platform out of reach for some investors. Beyond these minimum investments, Vinovest’s starter managed account comes with a 2.50% annual management fee, and transaction fees in its trading account will surely eat into profits. Vinovest charges a 2.5% buy-side trading fee, a 1% sell-side trading fee and a 1.5% yearly storage fee, billed monthly. However, you can receive 5% of all management fees if you turn on auto-invest, according to the Vinovest website.
Lastly, unlike its competitor Vint, Vinovest doesn’t offer equity shares or fractional offerings, which means you need enough money up front (the $1,000 or $1,750 minimum) to buy the bottles outright.
Vinovest’s fees
| Account level | Minimum initial investment | Annual management fee | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $1,000 | 2.50% | Full insurance Enrollment in Vinovest’s carbon offset program |
| Plus | $10,000 | 2.35% | Starter tier features Access to portfolio manager biannual reviews Access to rare wines and new releases |
| Premium | $50,000 | 2.15% | Plus tier features Access to wine futures Access to customized portfolio construction options Access to rare, auction-only wines Exclusive invites to Vinovest wine tastings and events |
| Grand Cru | $250,000 | 1.90% | Premium tier features Preferred access to the rarest, most exclusive wine releases Personalized quarterly portfolio insight reports Access to the Vinovest Advisory Council |
| Wine trade fees | 2.5% buy-side trading fee (includes 3 months of storage); 1% sell-side trading fee; 1.5% yearly storage fee, billed monthly |
Is Vinovest legit?
Yes, Vinovest is a legitimate company. Founded in 2019, Vinovest is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) since 2020. Vinovest has more than 150,000 registered users with over $100 million in assets under management, according to its website.
Vinovest’s platform is easy to use
Vinovest acts as both a portfolio manager and an exchange, allowing you to trade wines like stocks or have a personalized portfolio of wines or whiskey built and managed on your behalf. You can choose between a trading account or a managed account — or open both.
In either case, you own 100% of your wine and whiskey, and it’s fully insured. Vinovest also stores it on your behalf in bonded storage facilities in France, Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK and the US. Bonded warehouses allow Vinovest to store your wine without payment of value-added taxes (VAT) and excise duty taxes. This means you can buy and sell bottles more cost-effectively than if you were to store your wines at home. These taxes only apply if you take delivery of your wine, which you can do at any time.
Signing up with Vinovest is simple and takes only minutes, and you can start trading immediately upon funding your account. In all, Vinovest’s platform is uncluttered and easy to navigate. It offers a clean, elegant design that’s familiar and user-friendly. For those who want to trade wines individually, each listing on its exchange is accompanied by a chart of its performance, Vinovest’s rationale behind the investment and scores from wine critics.
Vinvovest’s app store reviews
| Google Play app reviews | 4.3/5 stars based on over 9 reviews, as of July 2023 |
| Apple App Store app reviews | 4.6/5 stars based on over 180 reviews, as of July 2023 |
Vinovest’s customer support
- Online ticket
How to open an account with Vinovest
- Go to the Vinovest website, select Get started and choose between a wine or whiskey account.
- Enter your name, phone number, email and password, and select Create Account. Alternatively, sign up using your Google login credentials.
- Select Continue to build your portfolio. Provide information about your investing goals and timeline, and choose a portfolio.
- Fund your account or skip for now.
Eligibility and required information
- At least 21 years old
- Valid phone number and residential and email address
- Fund your account via ACH transfer, wire transfer, check or crypto
How safe is Vinovest?
Vinovest is considered safe and secure. The company uses OKTA, an American identity management service, as a third-party security partner to monitor and secure its site.
Frequently asked questions about Vinovest
Compare Vinovest to other alternative investing platforms
Vinovest
★★★★★
Finder rating 3.3 / 5
Available asset types
Wine, Whiskey
Stock trade fee
Minimum deposit
$1,000
SoFi Alt Assets
★★★★★
Finder rating 4.7 / 5
Available asset types
Stocks, Options, Mutual funds, ETFs
Stock trade fee
$0
Minimum deposit
$0
Ark7 Real Estate Investing
Available asset types
Real estate
Stock trade fee
Minimum deposit
$0
How we rate trading platforms
★★★★★ 5/5 — Excellent
★★★★★ 4/5 — Good
★★★★★ 3/5 — Average
★★★★★ 2/5 — Subpar
★★★★★ 1/5 — Poor
We analyze top online trading platforms and rate them one to five stars based on factors that are most important to you. These factors include fees, securities available for trade, customer support, customer feedback, platform resources and overall reliability.
For a complete breakdown of how we score each category, read the full methodology of how we rate trading platforms.
Frequently asked questions
Your reviews
Matt Finder
Editor, Investments
Hi there, looking for more information? Ask us a question.
You are about to post a question on finder.com:
- Do not enter personal information (eg. surname, phone number, bank details) as your question will be made public
- finder.com is a financial comparison and information service, not a bank or product provider
- We cannot provide you with personal advice or recommendations
- Your answer might already be waiting – check previous questions below to see if yours has already been asked
Finder only provides general advice and factual information, so consider your own circumstances, or seek advice before you decide to act on our content. By submitting a question, you're accepting our finder.com Terms of Use and Privacy and Cookies Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.