People who want a piece of the investment action in wine don’t just have to buy a vineyard, the actual liquid stuff or even a stake in a wine fund. Another option has arrived: holding shares in a listed wine company.

People who want a piece of the investment action in wine don’t just have to buy a vineyard, the actual liquid stuff or even a stake in a wine fund. Another option has arrived: holding shares in a listed wine company.

That option becomes a reality because Domaine Chanzy says it will be the only French company listed on London’s AIM Exchange and the only French wine specialist listed in the UK capital. Rather neatly, the ticker symbol for the firm on the AIM Exchange will be “WINE”. Shares in the stock are eligible for tax relief under the Enterprise Investment Scheme structure in the UK.

Investment in fine wines, for example, has become a trend in recent years as high net worth individuals seek “real assets” with the potential to ride out economic gyrations. Recent figures don't suggest the market is always easy, however. The business of making wine produced contrasts in 2014: prices rose at “lifestyle” vineyards in places such as California and New Zealand but investors in the end-product would have lost money had they sold it, figures issued late last year from Knight Frank showed. The market is by no means immune to broader forces: Liv-ex, an auction market for fine wine which also produces a series of indices tracking prices that are fetched, suggests that some of the fizz has gone out of the market since the start of this year. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index, which includes wines such as the great chateaux of Bordeau and Burgundy, has fallen 7.22 per cent from the start of 2014 and the end of November. (To view more on such issues, click here.)

In the Domaine Chanzy initial public offering, the promoters of the listing said it marked the first example of a firm carrying out an IPO using crowdfunding.

The IPO seeks to raise at least £1.9 million ($2.86 million) at a share price of 120p. People can invest from as little as £10 using the Seedrs platform, a statement from Domaine Chanzy said. Investors using the Seedrs route will have their shares held by Seedrs as nominee, meaning that they do not need to establish separate brokerage or trading accounts. Investors will be free to sell their shares on AIM at any time (provided that sufficient demand exists).

Another, rather more direct incentive is that investors will be offered “substantial discounts”, the firm says, in Domaine Chanzy’s wines. Those investors who purchase a minimum of 1,000 shares (£1,200) will be entitled to discounts of up to 55 per cent on wines ranging from Domaine Chanzy’s entry-level offerings to its premier Grand Cru.

Domaine Chanzy will also raise funds for the IPO through a placing led by several City corporate finance firms. Investors in the crowdfunding and the placing will have demand satisfied on a first-come, first-served basis.