
Three decades ago, when I earned my crust as a Tokyo-based equity strategist, I discovered fine wine. More to the point, fine wine merchants found me. A tale was spun about an insufficient supply of bubbly at the worldwide millennium celebrations to come. Encouraged to beat the rush and put away some vintage champagne, I bought 10 cases of 1990 vintage Jacquesson.
You can guess the rest. Years later, after settling in London, more than enough bottles of fizz were available on New Year’s Eve 1999. And my hopes of selling extra bottles for profit were dashed. While top bottles from Bordeaux and Burgundy always found bids, champagne’s market remained an old-fashioned business for many years afterwards.