Château Lafite Rothschild 2019 once again led weekly trade as Bordeaux dominated the secondary market.
- Bordeaux dominated the secondary market, accounting for almost 50% of total trade by value.
- The top-traded wines this week primarily hailed from Bordeaux, with one wine each from Champagne, Burgundy, and Ribera del Duero.
- This week, Liv-ex published two Market Updates for members: one pricing analysis of the Dom Pérignon 2015 release, and one highlighting the relative strength of Sauternes. Gold members also gained access to technical analysis of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti prices.
What’s happening in the secondary market?
Bordeaux further asserted its dominance on the secondary market, its trade share rising from 40.2% to 48.2%. Once again, the region had the most wines among the most-traded by value and volume and Château Lafite 2019 led weekly trade for the second week in a row.
Burgundy came in second with 18.8% of weekly trade by value, followed by Champagne which reclaimed third place after a difficult week last week. The region’s share of trade almost doubled from 6.3% to 12.5% this week. The Rhône remained almost flat week-on-week, accounting for 2.6% of total trade by value.
Tuscany’s trade share stayed perfectly flat on last week’s, closing at 7.9% of trade, while Piedmont’s dipped from 4.4 to 3.2%. The USA came down from a strong week to close at a mere 2.6% of trade this week, and the ‘Others’ category also fell despite a wine from Vega Sicilia featuring among the most traded by volume.
What were this week’s top-traded wines?
There was a strong bias towards Bordeaux in this week’s top-traded wines. Château Lafite 2019 led weekly trade for the second week in a row, its last trade price slightly higher than the previous week’s but still lower than its release price. The wine also featured on the list of most-traded wines by volume, indicating considerable demand.
As we mentioned in previous weeks, the wine is now trading around its pre-2021 levels. Buyers may want to capitalise on this dip before the market eventually returns to an upwards trajectory, and excellent Bordeaux vintages like the 2019 become scarcer and a whole lot more expensive.
Another wine from the Lafite stable, Carruades de Lafite 2023, found a market this week and traded in volume at £1,558 per case (below its release price of £1,860 per 12×75). Is this the first sign that the generalised price cuts of the En Primeur 2023 campaign were not enough to satisfy buyers?
Bordeaux was also represented by Château Palmer 2016, whose trade prices have been rather volatile since its release. That said, like many younger Bordeaux wines, it is currently trading below its release price of £2,880 per case. Château Pontet-Canet 2015 featured on the list of most-traded by volume this week; the wine is seeing renewed demand on the secondary market since the start of 2024.
Château Pontet-Canet 2015 trades on Liv-ex
Outside of Bordeaux, Champagne’s Dom Pérignon 2008 was one of the most-traded wines by value this week. A pricing analysis of the wine’s back vintages ahead of the 2015’s release highlights the 2008 as one of the most expensive on the market, but also one of the highest-rated.
Burgundy made an appearance with Domaine d’Auvenay’s Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2013. According to Liv-ex’s new proprietary algorithm data, the wine is just entering its drinking window. Last but not least, Spain’s Vega Sicilia completed the rankings with its 2020 Alión, which was scored 93 points by The Wine Advocate’s Joaquin Hidalgo.
Weekly insights recap
This week, Liv-ex published two Market Updates for members on Bronze packages and above. One was a pricing analysis of the upcoming release of Dom Pérignon 2015, while the other highlighted the relative stability of Sauternes wines inside the Bordeaux 500. Members on Gold and Black packages also gained access to technical analysis of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wine prices.
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.
