My Round: You're not going to double your cash - or even keep it. But what could be a tastier investment than wine?

From Lands End to John O'Groats, the temptation grows ever-stronger not to invest in a personal pension, endowment mortgage, or any other investment even remotely connected with any stock market. Every day's news seems to bear reports of a new corporate scandal revealing – who'd have guessed it? – that big companies are capable of even bigger malfeasance. The WorldCom scandal is the latest at the moment; by the time this appears in print, who knows which name will have added itself to the roster of shame?

So, if we don't put our money in shares, bonds, ISAs and the like, where do we put it? Some will be tempted by the lure of investing in wine but this is, and has always been, just as dicey in its own way. Let's take the obvious danger first: drinks fraud, the selling (to the incredibly foolish) of claret and other wines at prices vastly higher than true market prices. While the wine writer Jim Budd has lobbied for more stringent controls and brought a number of drinks fraud cases to the attention of the law, unfortunately, wine-fraudsters are like hydra: cut off a head and another appears elsewhere. Maintain vigilance and compare prices if you're thinking of buying wine as an investment. Budd's plain-speaking, no-prisoners-taken website, www.investdrinks.org, should be required reading for anyone thinking of taking the plunge.

But should you be doing this in the first place? The honest answer is no. It is possible to make money investing in wine, but that doesn't mean it's easy or even likely. Budd has analysed prices going back to 1999 and found that only a few wines showed annual increases greater than single figures.

There's a different kind of investment that's worth considering if blue chips and small-caps don't take your fancy, and that is investment for your future drinking pleasure. I guess you can call this "building a cellar" if you insist, though to me that sounds like an activity restricted to people who own at least two houses and never turn right when they're boarding an airplane. For us inferior people, Berry Bros & Rudd has an intriguing "Cellar Plan" similar to the savings plans offered by investment companies: you pay at least £100 a month and it buys wine from its excellent range. This ties you to one supplier, but you have the financial discipline of investing at regular intervals.

Can't be bothered to save regularly? Then here are three bottles for those who like to choose their investments. First is a Tuscan red that brings distinction to a sometimes humdrum name. Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 1998 (Bat & Bottle, 01785 284 495, £14.50) is a very good example from a not particularly distinguished vintage. Little of the sometimes astringent austerity found in these highly variable wines, lots of approachable fruit, but the potential to improve for five years. Second is Esprit de Combelle Chardonnay 2000, Vin de Pays des Côteaux de l'Ardeche. You wouldn't think of a wine from this area as a cellar-hero, but this one has generous oak that knits well with lively Chardonnay citrus flavours, lifted by zippy acidity. Really delicious stuff for drinking over the next few years. From Laithwaites, 0870 444 8383, for £7.15.

The final wine is the real surprise. Supermarkets aren't thought of as places to shop for cellaring, but Booths sells a Macon-Montbellet 1999, Domaine Goyard, that nearly stopped me in my tracks. Fresh acidity, wonderful mineral flavours, an utterly shocking level of quality for Macon. Note: the domaine has been sold to someone else, who will be making the wine (in a different style) from 2001. And note: I am advised on good authority that these wines age well for decades. Snap it up at £9.99. It sure beats the stock market.