January was a moderate month for the fine wine industry as shown by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index, closing at 301.88, down just 0.22% on December.
Sterling softened slightly in the month. Commonly, this would lead to more demand from outside the UK, but the uncertainty around US tariffs kept US buyers largely at bay, the spread of the Coronavirus combined with the Chinese New Year holiday curtailed demand from Asia and the UK’s official departure from the EU on the last day of the month, meant European buyers sat on their hands, weary of the unexpected.
Despite all this, trade by value rose 40% over the December lull, as domestic buyers and sellers returned to the market.
Volatility defines this month’s movers. DRC, Tache 2015 and Mouton Rothschild 2000 were in the bottom five just three months ago but have now regained lost ground, while Dom Perignon 2009 and Barolo 2014 find themselves amongst the worst performers this month after quiet gains throughout 2019.
