While the Rest of the World 60 index tracks the price performance of six leading estates, the category that covers market activity is much broader. Today’s post outlines the differences between the two.
In 2022 the secondary market has continued to broaden and diversify. The variety and the number of unique wines traded (LWIN11) on Liv-ex, increased 16.4% between 2020 and 2021. Four months into 2022, the number is already halfway through the record level achieved last year.
Much of this broadening has come from regions not typically associated with the traditional secondary market, which has long revolved around wine regions in Europe.
In February, we wrote: ‘What do we mean by the “Rest of the World”’. There is a Rest of the World 60 index tracks the price performance of six leading wine labels from California (three), Australia (one), Spain (one) and Portugal (one). Today, we want to look beyond wines from this index, and find the top traded rest of the world labels in the market today.
The table below shows the top 10 traded wines by volume that are not components of the Rest of the World 60 index, with their average Market Prices and scores from 2000 to most recently released vintage. We have also excluded wines from California as a whole.
Lebanon’s best-known winery Château Musar leads trade. The winemaker Serge Hochar was nominated as Decanter’s first ‘Man of the Year’ in 1984 helping catapult the estate to wider recognition. Nearly 40 years later, it is still a highly sought-after wine.
Labels from New Zealand, Argentina and Australia have been building their own reputations in the interim. Wines such as Catena Zapata’s range of Malbecs, the Chardonnays from Kumeu River and single site Shiraz by Jim Barry, Torbreck and Henschke all now have sizeable followings and are supported by critical acclaim.
Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate) scored the Kumeu River Mate’s Vineyard 2019 Chardonnay (the new release from last June) 96-points. He called it, ‘complex and compelling’ saying it was ‘drinkable now, yet it should age effortlessly for at least a decade’.
Noting that it’s all about ‘finesse and balance’, Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate) has given Cheval des Andes’ recent vintages an average score of 96.9, while Czerwinski has rated Torbreck’s ‘The Laird’ an average of 98.6.
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Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 560+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
