Wine as Investment: Abrau-Durso Hosts Public Talk in Moscow

Leading experts of the investment and wine markets met in Moscow at the closed public talk "Wine as Investment", organized by the Abrau-Durso Group. The event, dedicated to the 155th anniversary of the company, marked the launch of a new instrument— digital financial assets (DFA), backed by rare collectible wines of the Abrau-Durso Group. The successful allocation of 100% of the DFA issue confirmed investors' interest in this alternative asset and the high potential of the project.

The key topic of the event was the matter of turning rare, elite wines from a collector's item into a full-value investment tool. Boris Titov, Principal Shareholder of the Abrau-Durso Group, Artur Sarkisyan, Chairman of the Union of Sommeliers and Experts of Russia, RBC Partner, and Sergey Popov, Director of Sber's Transaction Business Division, took part in the discussion. The interview was conducted by Oleg Bogdanov (Kommersant FM).

The experts discussed how the reputation and legacy, limited releases and the proven potential of the aged wines of the Abrau-Durso Group form the foundation of trust for new formats of financial instruments. The key conditions for the investment attractiveness of rare wines were high quality, the ability to evolve in the bottle and the expertise of Abrau-Durso. The participants in the discussion agreed that the investment wine market in Russia is going through a crucial moment: the first rare and collectible pieces are being identified, and the emergence of digital financial assets allows working with them systematically and transparently, offering investors a tool focused on the results of the auction sale of collectible wines, rather than owning a physical asset. According to the speakers, DFAs successfully combine the material value of a physical asset with the convenience and liquidity of modern digital solutions.

Separately, during the discussion, it was noted that the issue of Abrau-Durso's digital financial assets was fully purchased within the shortest possible time— all 100 DFAs found investors, which confirmed the market's interest in a new format of working with value. The DFA redemption price will be determined based on a fixed index linked to the results of the auction, which is scheduled at the end of the 3rd year of the DFA's maturity, at the end of 2028.

"For us, the launch of digital financial assets is primarily a new format for working with the value of the Abrau-Durso brand. DFAs allow building a dialogue with investors in a new way, while maintaining a connection with the real asset— collectible wine," said Boris Titov, Principal Shareholder of the Abrau-Durso Group.

The event was another confirmation that investments in collectible wines in Russia are moving from the category of a private elite hobby to a systemic financial instrument for a wide range of investors, and Abrau-Durso is a pioneer of this process, setting a trend for the entire industry.

A logical continuation of the public talk was a closed charity auction held in support of the Artist Foundation. The format was first implemented last year, when the aged red wine Krasnostop Zolotovsky by Vedernikov Winery became the most expensive wine in Russia— a lot of two bottles was sold at auction for RUB1.5mln in December 2024. The 2025 auction continued this initiative: the guests were presented with rare wines from private collections, as well as several charity lots from Leonid Yarmolnik. A set of two aged sparkling wines "Abrau-Durso Millesime" from the 1999 vintage went under the hammer for RUB900,000. The lot was a collectible vintage sparkling wine aged for 25 years sur lie in a bottle, created from Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Franc. A set of three bottles of red aged Phantom wine from the 2012 vintage, the first release of Artur Sarkisyan's original project, created in collaboration with Vedernikov Winery, collected RUB600,000. This lot from Artur Sarkisyan's private collection included wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Krasnostop Zolotovsky, an indigenous Don variety, with different proportions of assemblage in each bottle. According to the results of the general auction, RUB3.6 mln were collected. A significant part of the funds raised will be allocated to the Artist Charitable Foundation, which supports elderly artists and celebrities.

The event ended with an exclusive tasting of rare examples from the Abrau-Durso collection by Brand Chef & Sommelier Svetlana Lomsadze. The guests had the opportunity to taste benchmark sparkling wines, including the Russian sparkling "Abrau-Durso Millesime" from the 2005 vintage— a collectible brut made from Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Franc, and considered one of the rare archival releases. Also, as part of the tasting, the aged brut "Abrau-Durso Imperial La Grande Année" release #2, dedicated to the brand's 155th anniversary, was presented. The 2005–2016 sparkling millesime assemblage with the addition of 2018 wine demonstrates the approach of Abrau-Durso winemakers to working with aging and assemblages from different years.