The Wine Bailout

by Gretchen Roberts, Posted Dec 18th 2008 @ 2:00PM

I posted recently about investing in wine futures vs. the stock market; now a Napa wine company has tied them together. Here's how it works: you pre-buy a bottle of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for $39, which is already a fairly good deal for that region, where most Cabs run much higher. The penny-pinchers at Bailout Wine record the Dow Jones closing value on the day you buy the bottle, and when it's officially released on August 14, 2009, you'll get $2 off for every 100 points the Dow has dropped since you first signed up.

If in the unlikely event that the Dow goes up, you're still set: the $39 price is the ceiling.

My favorite part was the caveat at the bottom of the "How it Works" page: "Note that if the price per bottle should go below $9, we have to charge you $9/bottle for legal reasons. But that will be the least of our concerns." Umm, yeah. At least you'll have a nice Cab to drown your sorrows in.

Filed Under: Trends, Drink Recipes, New Products
Tags: 401k, america, bailout, cabernet sauvignon, california, napa valley, west coast, wine