INVESTING in wine, not just top Bordeaux but even cheap varieties, can be good for your total portfolio and is especially useful during a financial crisis, according to two Swiss economists.

"Wine in a portfolio has produced higher returns and lower risks than the Russell 3000 equity index ... Especially in times of economic downturns" they said in a report in the American Association of Wine Economists.

The study comes as leading auction houses reported sales of fine wines totalling more than $US12 million ($13 million) in the last two weeks.

Economists Philippe Masset, of Lausanne Hotel School, and Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, of the University of Fribourg, both in Switzerland, looked at auction prices from The Chicago Wine Company from January 1996 through January 2009.

"In a nutshell, our findings show that the inclusion of wine in a portfolio and, especially more prestigious wines, increases the portfolio's returns while reducing its risk, particularly during the financial crisis," they explained.

"This is true for all model-portfolios both during bull and bear periods."