Fine wine futures are bucking the credit crunch and downturn in the equity markets, offering investors a new investment opportunity.

Over recent years, the prices of some of the finest wines in the world such as Petrus, Latour and Lafite Rothschild, have risen rapidly, especially as a result of recent buying interest from Russia and China and the evolution of wine funds.

In response to this, ODL Markets is launching a new spread betting service on the Liv-ex 100, the world’s leading index of fine wine prices, which has risen by 12 per cent in the last year.

Buying these wines has become progressively more expensive, but through this index, investors can share in future price rises, or falls, without worrying about storage, provenance or high dealing costs.

The Liv-ex 100 includes the most famous wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhone and Italy. Year-on-year the index has increased by 12 per cent compared to -5.3 per cent on the FTSE100 and -6.7 per cent on the S 500. Fine wine has also outperformed most equities, and even gold over the last five years.

Duncan Anderson, senior spread betting manager at ODL Markets, says, ‘Wine is more liquid than gold, more palatable than oil and has vastly outperformed the equity markets over the past year; it is potentially a new vehicle for investment portfolio diversification and for those wanting to see a greater return on their investment.

‘With the Liv-ex 100 contract, investors can benefit from price rises, or even falls, of their favourite wines. In the current climate, individuals are looking for alternative investments and wine offers one such opportunity.’

ODL Markets will offer a leveraged product that settles quarterly at the Liv-ex committee price and will make a two-way spread on the Liv-ex 100. Investors’ exposure will initially be limited to £10,000.

For more information visit www.odlsecurities.com