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How to win £1,000 worth of wine

The following three notional wine investors won wine merchant Robert Rolls' 2003 Comic Relief Wine Investment Challenge:

Hugh Purvis of Portugal won £1,000 worth of wine because his chosen investment wines rose 47.36 per cent in value in the two years that have elapsed since Red Nose Day 2003. Second prize of £500 worth of wine goes to Ian Douglas, of London N3 for an increase in value of  29.34 per cent while Adam Shapiro of London E8 wins £250 worth of wine for choosing wines that rose 29.34 per cent.

Now is the time to enter the 2005 Robert Rolls Wine Investment Challenge. Select a notional £5,000 portfolio from Robert Rolls' current wine list of at least five wines from those nominated by the merchant and pay an entrance fee of £15 which goes straight to Comic Relief. The results will be announced in mar 2007. For more details contact robert@rollswine.com

The following table shows price movements of each of the wines chosen by Robert Rolls for the 2003 Wine Investment Challenge. The first column of numbers is the case price in pounds in mar 2003, the second the case price in pound in mar 2005 and last is the percentage return on investment. As you can see, there are all too few obvious generalisations about investing in wine.

2001Ch Mouton Rothschild   900  £9606.67%
2000Ch Cantemerle150  £17818.67%
2000Ch Lynch Bages540  £67525%
2000Ch Latour 2750  £3,22017.10%
2000Ch Talbot300  £34515%
1999Ch Brane Cantenac180  £22525%
1998Ch La Mission Haut Brion780  £765-1.90%
1996Clos du Marquis190  £24528.90%
1996Ch Montrose375  £4078.53%
1995Cheval Blanc1040  £1,20015.38%
1990Cos d'Estournel785  £93218.73%
1990Ch D'Yquem (half bottles)2100  £2,1703.33%
1982Ch Mouton Rothschild (Imperiale)3800  £4,0005.26%
2000Chassagne Montrachet, Niellon190  £24026.30%
2000Chevalier Mont. Demoiselles, Jadot (6x75cl case)550  £61010.90%
1998Charmes Chambertin, Tres Vieilles Vignes, Roty850  £1,05023.50%
2001Vosne Romanee 1er Malconsorts, Cathiard325  £50455%
1999Chambertin, Rousseau1450  £1,66614.90%
1998Cote Rotie, Brune et Blonde, Guigal210  £2257.10%
1999Chateau D'Ampuis, Guigal480  £4953.10%
1990Dom Perignon685  £88028.50%
1999Ornellaia (6x75cl case)350  £338-3.40%
1999Sassicaia795  £8355%
1997Barolo Sperss1200  £1,35012.50%
1998Torbreak, The Steading295  £34918.30%
1998D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz400  £48621.50%
1985Fonseca395  £4083.20%