People have been investing in Fine Wines for hundreds of years. However until now, like Fine Art and Antiques, you would either have to be an expert on the subject or be prepared to make expensive mistakes when entering the market purely for monetary gain.

Premier Cru was formed with the specific intention of offering structured investments to ordinary people with little or no knowledge of Fine Wines.

The idea of creating a pure investment company of this kind came in 1992 when one of the founder members of Premier Cru was introduced to a National Insurance Contributions discount scheme utilising Fine Wine. Due to the stability of the wine markets, it was possible to offer prospective clients a guarantee that they would receive 100% of quoted values. Other companies had been using Gold and Diamonds. However, fluctuations in those markets often caused clients to sell at a loss making the whole scheme pointless. Although we were not interested in NIC discount scheme, a Tax Free Stable Market seemed the perfect basis for an investment.

Research started mid 1992 and in mid 1994 we launched our first "Investment Portfolio" (a recent valuation is at the back of this booklet). Our development team which has over 160 years combined experience in the Financial Services and Fine Wine industries have designed our plans by taking the best features and benefits from PEPs/ISAs, Investment bonds & TESSAs and removing the common drawbacks of those schemes. In doing so, we have created what is now generally considered to be the most tax efficient and fully flexible range of investment plans available in the open market today. We do not charge upfront or exit fees, early redemption penalties (we recommend a minimum 3 year term) or dealing charges. Your profits are Free from Capital Gains and Income Tax.

For you the investor, a Fine Wine should have the following attributes; be from a limited production, be produced under strict regulations, be from a recognised system of classification, and have a complexity of taste and longevity that improves its quality with age.

When investing in Fine Wines the quality, purchase price, quantity produced, Château and vintage are of primary importance, and once bottled the atmospheric pressure, temperature and overall condition of its storage is as equally important.