What’s happening in the market?
Large volumes of Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque 2014 changed hands yesterday, propelling it to the top of the rankings by value and volume since last Friday.
As a result, Champagne’s share of trade rose to 18.4%, rivalling Burgundy’s 19.4%. This is despite some high-end Burgundy wines trading over the weekend, including Coche-Dury, Meursault 2021, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2009 and Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, Echezeaux Grand Cru les Rouges 2015.
Argiano, Brunello di Montalcino 2018 is still among the most traded wines as collectors rush to secure the Wine Spectator’s top wine of the year.
Today’s deep-dive: The top performers in the 2023 Power 100
Last month, we published the Liv-ex 2023 Power 100, a ranking of the most powerful brands on the secondary market. Among those, we’ve identified the top ten brands according to their price performance and their average trade price on Liv-ex – and we’re revealing them in two new tables below.
The Power 100 is compiled by selecting brands which meet a minimum threshold of trade and ranking them based on four criteria, namely year-on-year price performance, trading performance on Liv-ex (value and volume), number of wines traded, and average price of wines in a brand.
Having more than one criterion to construct the rankings means brands could perform particularly well in one area but be brought down by another. It also means that the top ten brands in each category are quite different to the overall top ten brands, as some of them might not even make the final ranking.
Top 10 price performers
In terms of price performance, for example, Bell Hill of New Zealand featured among the top ten. The average Market Price of its wines rose by 11.3%, making it one of the only brands to display double-digit growth. However, Bell Hill did not make it to the final Power 100 ranking, coming in 305th, let down by its low amount of trade on Liv-ex.
The top ten price performers are dominated by Burgundy, notably some predominately white Burgundy producers (Guffens-Heynen, Caroline Morey, Hubert Lamy, Paul Pillot). This theme was noted in the 2023 Power 100: as white wines are often bought to be drunk, their supply tends to diminish quickly on release which keeps their prices stable. This is especially true in the current downward market, as much of the buying and selling occurring is of wines to be drunk rather than held.
There are currently 3,477 LIVE bids and offers on white Burgundy wines. Log in to view them and trade.
Top 10 brands by trade price
If you consider average trade price, the story is of course very different. Burgundy once again dominates the top ten, but this time it’s the biggest red producers such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Bizot, Domaine d’Auvenay and Domaine du Comte Liger Belair.
Most interesting is the fact that some of these brands made the final rankings in 2022, buoyed by their trade price among the highest in the world, but also by the high demand they commanded last year.
In 2023, however, Georges Roumier dropped out of the Power 100, brought down by its poor price performance, as did Domaine d’Auvenay, which did not see enough trade on the exchange to maintain its position in the rankings.
There are currently 7,756 LIVE bids and offers on red Burgundy wines. Log in to view them and trade.
Pétrus and Le Pin unsurprisingly made the list, the low volume of these garagiste wines placing them among the most coveted and expensive in Bordeaux, and Screaming Eagle flies the flag of California, its average trade price comparable to some red Burgundy brands.
In case you missed it:
Here’s what we’ve been reading:
- Liv-ex: Who will be the next risers into the Power 100?
- Harper’s: Wine Christmas sales uplift driven by inflation
- Financial Times: Return of rich tourists and weak yen helps Japan escape luxury downturn
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.
