Yesterday we saw that Bordeaux wines tended to underperform
at October auctions, regularly going under the hammer for less than their Liv-ex
Mid-Price.
Below we have divided up the sub-sections in the Bordeaux 500 to see which sector
of the market underperformed the most. This has been calculated by comparing the
difference between the average price paid for a wine at auction (excluding the
buyer’s premium, as we are approaching this from a seller’s perspective) and
the Liv-ex Mid-Price.
We have recently reported on the success
of Right Bank wines, but in October they showed the largest discount to their
Liv-ex Mid Prices when sold at auction. The Right Bank 50 and 100 were the
greatest underperformers in Hong Kong, Chicago and New York. In the US they saw
on average a more than 30% decrease from their Mid-Prices. Meanwhile the Left
Bank 200 was the strongest performer for red Bordeaux, although in Hong Kong the
Second Wines 50 proved more popular – Carruades Lafite 2009 (LWIN 10078402009),
for example, regularly sold at 27% above its Liv-ex Mid-Price.
Sauternes saw the most success at auction. They were the
only group to sell over their Liv-ex Mid-Prices, with an average 10.8% increase
in Hong Kong. Perhaps this points to increased Asian demand for white Bordeaux.