Jancis Robinson

Funds, Wine

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Wine funds aggregate investors’ funds with a view to creating a professionally managed, balanced portfolio of fine wines. The first credible wine funds were the UK-based operations The Wine Investment Fund and the (now defunct) Vintage Wine Fund, which opened for business in January 2003.

Wine investment funds emerged as a result of the steady growth in the value of fine wine and with it the new respectability of fine wine as a part of SWAG, the tangible asset class that comprises silver, wine, art, and gold. The prestige conferred by fine-wine ownership and the thrill of the chase have contributed to the phenomenon of wine investment in general and the wine investment funds in particular.