Bordeaux seems to have made a comeback of late: having consistently maintained its market share below 50%, the region accounted for 54.2% of all trade in the past week. Prices for its First Growths remained flat, with the Liv-ex 50 down just 0.02% on last Friday’s close.
Burgundy drifted, from 19.3% to 14.1%, while Italy rose albeit slightly – from 10.8% to 11.6%.
Rhone’s share by value (2.7%) halved on last week (5.4%), with trade in US wine (5.6%) also taking a back seat. The ‘Others’ category saw small decrease in activity (5.7%) but remains above its June average of 5.5%.
The past week demonstrated the power of the critic. In a retrospective of Petrus (vintages 1897–2011), Neal Martin (Vinous) reaffirmed his assessment of the 1989, awarding it 100 points. The critic called the wine “ethereal”, adding that “if you want to taste a genuine 100-point wine then step this way”. Petrus 1989 subsequently traded in the market (last time at £38,850 per case) and went on to lead this week’s most active wines by value.
Another Petrus vintage, the 1988 (NM 90), saw trade at £21,300 per case – one of the cheapest vintages money can buy. Two vintages of Lafite Rothschild, 2016 and 2008, saw decent demand.
The year so far on Liv-ex’s global marketplace
Trading data from our global marketplace has shown that buyers interests have continued to expand in the first half of 2020: as seen in merchants’ wine searches by location, and the top traded wines by value and volume.
Next week, we will examine the shape of the market and the best-performing wine labels this year.
In an open letter to our members, Liv-ex’s James Miles also discussed the year so far and upcoming business developments. To read his letter, click here.
Pingus 2019 released
Last week, the Ribera del Duero’s Pingus 2019 was released in the UK at £5,700 per 12×75. Peter Sisseck recently described the 2019 as being “the most perfect Pingus we have ever made” and added that “it only took 25 years…”. For pricing analysis, click here.
