What’s happening in the market?
During the Christmas weekend, spanning from Friday through Tuesday, trading activity continued in the market, albeit at much reduced levels. Bordeaux led the pack, representing 32.3% of total trade with wines from Château Cheval Blanc, Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Château Margaux at the heart of the action.
Burgundy closely followed, capturing 26.0% of the total trade share, boosted by wines from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Domaine Leflaive, changing hands over the weekend.
Tuscany accounted for 9.7% of regional trade. Argiano, Brunello di Montalcino 2018, remained in focus, trading on Christmas day at £600 per case.
Today’s deep-dive: The best and worst performing wines of 2023
The best-performing wines of 2023
The Mid-Price is the mid-point between the highest live bid and lowest live offer on the market. These are the firm commitments to buy and sell at that price; transactional data rather than list prices. It represents the actual trading activity of 600 of the world’s leading fine wine merchants. Because Liv-ex does not itself trade, this data is truly independent and reliable. Prices given are for 12x75cl trades, or 6x75cl converted to a 12x75cl price.
Our 2023 fine wine market report pointed to a growing share of regional trade for Bordeaux, attributed in part to its perceived ‘safe haven’ status. As a result, Bordeaux wines dominated Liv-ex’s most traded list.
But interestingly in terms of price performance, it was not the big beasts of the Medoc that led the pack, but Sauternes, including Château Climens 2010 and 2007, as well as Château Coutet 2014 and 2010. A change of ownership at Climens seems to have sparked some interest in this often-overlooked region, where tremendous value can be found for those with a sweet tooth.
Looking at the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 sub-indices, the Italy 100 is the best-performing index year-to-date, recording the smallest decline of just 6.4%. It Is unsurprising therefore to find representation from Tuscany in the list of top performers, alongside Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo, Monfortino Riserva 2001 from Piedmont.
Additionally, white Burgundies emerged as top performers, surpassing their red counterparts – as has been the case for some time now.
There are currently 364 LIVE bids for white Burgundies. Log in to the exchange to view them and trade. Additionally, you can use the new ‘Save to List Studio’ function to add these wines to a custom list (e.g. a ‘wish list’ or ‘watch list’) which you can return to at any time.
The worst-performing wines of 2023
On the other hand, the Rhône 100 is the worst-performing index year-to-date, experiencing a 19.4% decline. The worst performer this year is Château Rayas 2003, falling by 46.5%, closely followed by the 2009 vintage with a 43.6% decrease. In a previous market update we explored Rayas’ disproportionate impact on the Rhône 100 index; without it, the index would exhibit a relatively strong performance.
As for the rest of the worst performers, they are all red Burgundies. This marks a departure from last year’s results, where the top rankings featured only Burgundian wines; six whites and four reds, and only one Burgundy in the bottom. The Burgundy 150 index is the third worst performer year-to-date, trailing only the Champagne 50 and the Rhône 100, with a decline of 15.7%. As previously mentioned, it appears that in this market downturn, buyers are favouring ‘safer’ choices, leading to increased interest in Bordeaux wines. Consequently, with reduced demand for Burgundy, prices have experienced a decline.
Despite the short-term challenges, the Burgundy 150 index stands out as one of the three Liv-ex 1000 sub-indices with a positive two-year performance. Among these sub-indices, it is the top performer, increasing 10.0% over the two-year period.
There are currently 566 LIVE bids for red Burgundies. Log in to the exchange to view them and trade. Additionally, you can use the new ‘Save to List Studio’ function to add these wines to a custom list (e.g. a ‘wish list’ or ‘watch list’) which you can return to at any time.
In case you missed it:
Here’s what we’ve been reading:
- Liv-ex: Jane Anson’s top 50 wines of the year 2023
- Decanter: Wine investment: Reality check for fine wine in 2023
- Financial Times: The state of wine in 2023 — Jancis Robinson’s year in review
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 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
