2020 was marked by a swing in activity towards the wines of Italy and the United States, while those regions omitted from US tariffs, in particular Italy and Champagne (and much of the Rhone), put in one of their best ever years in terms of price performance.
With many of last year’s headwinds still in play, these trends seem to be carrying on and even accentuated thanks to additional New Year’s Eve 25% tariff on most European wines regardless of ABV.
Bordeaux currently claims the top five spots in share of trade by value, extending France’s streak to 15 years in which the country’s wines have been January’s favourite. (In 2006, Sassicaia topped the billing as the rain soaked 2002 vintage was unceremoniously dumped).
Volume is another story. France has always relinquished a few places to either Italy or Spain but in 2021 Italy has taken three of the top five spots.
At a vintage level, 2018 leads by both value and volume as physical releases from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and California all hit the market.
This shift is best visualized in the graph below. Burgundy, Italy and the USA have all improved on their 2020 market share this January. Champagne and the Rhone have held their ground, so somewhere had to give. The Rest of the World and Bordeaux have relinquished some historical share.
Burgundy’s increased share has been brought about by a successful 2019 campaign which concentrated the minds of merchants and collectors on what is already physical. Our annual report on the region will be released to members this afternoon.
If you would like to continuously follow the top traded wines on Liv-ex, you now can!
The NEW Liv-ex Opportunities Grid – most traded, will show you the most transacted wines on Liv-ex over the past week (rolling), giving you a better idea of where the action (by number of transactions) is.
As 2021 continues to take shape, keep an eye on these grids, they may well provide some key insight into sentiment across the fine wine market.
Current Top 10 wines: click the image below to visit the new Opportunities Page.
