Megagrowth ranking two

Bordeaux Wine Investments, Sevenoaks

Growth: 370.7%

This year’s runner-up has long toasted business success in fine wine.

BWI emerged in 1998 when Andy Lench, founder of a US company Bordeaux Wine Locators set up some 12 years earlier, sought access to the UK market where significant stocks of older vintages could be found and where there were plenty of private clients keen to buy, collect, consume and invest in the wine.

In 2003, Andy’s brother Robert, then a stockbroker with 28 years in financial services, was looking for a change of lifestyle. He took over the helm and moved the business, then with just three employees, to Sevenoaks.

Robert was only too well aware of the uncertainties attached to equity and fund investments and thought Bordeaux a potentially more stable and profitable asset.

BWI experts advise clients about wine investment, look after their asset, suggest the best vintages to buy and the most favourable times to sell. Some investors have achieved phenomenal three-digit percentage returns in only a few years.

Robert, a regular visitor to the vineyards of Bordeaux, recommends 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2005 as good recent vintage

BWI now employs 11 people and has become one of the leading Bordeaux specialists in the UK, with a focus on high-end wine for corporate and private markets.

Through its close links with Bordeaux winemakers, BWI obtains supplies not available to other outlets.

Robert says its success is down to good service and pricing policy, client trust, referral and repeat business. But he singles out his "greatest asset" – his staff – for most praise.

BWI has also benefited from greater consumer interest in fine wine.

The firm is considering opening an overseas office, possibly in Singapore or Hong Kong, and acquiring its own bonded warehouse. "We will continue to grow the business," says Robert.