- While Champagne recovered some of its losses over the past two weeks, Tuscany’s share of traded value fell to just 5.5%.
- Château Margaux 2020 was the top-traded wine by value, followed by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 2019
- This week, Liv-ex published analyses of the latest Bordeaux En Primeur 2024 releases – Batailley, La Fleur-Petrus, Belair-Monange, Pontet-Canet and Branaire-Ducru. Liv-ex members were also a sent a deep dive on Château Beychevelle, including a look at the wine’s buyers’ geography and a technical analysis of its index.
N.B. With the UK trade out of office for Easter Bank Holiday last weekend, Talking Trade was not published on Friday 18th of April. Thus, this article covers trade from the past two weeks (April 11th – 24th).
Bordeaux remains in the lead, taking a 41.2% share of traded value. This is down from the previous week’s close with 44.4%. Since the start of the year, 2021 Bordeaux has traded frequently, consistently coming in as the top-traded vintage by value. This has now shifted – the 2019s and 2020s are the top traded Bordeaux vintages, with the 2021s coming in seventh place.
Burgundy’s trade share increased, up from 23.9% to 27.3%. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti 2019 was the region’s top-traded wine by value, but several vintages of Echezeaux and La Tache and a 2019 assortment case (9×75) also changed hands.
Champagne saw another weak close, though the region’s share of traded value increased from 5.9% to 8.9%. Dom Pérignon 2013, Cristal 2012 and Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill 2015 were the region’s top-traded wines.
Tuscany’s share of trade has fallen notably, down from its March average of 11.9% to just 5.5%. This can be partially explained by the pull back of US buyers. In March they accounted for 19.9% of Tuscan buying but have reduced their average weekly spend on the region’s wines by 76.0% (March 1st – 28th vs. April 11th – 24th ).
The USA’s share of trade increased from 4.6% to 7.4%. Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle, Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon were the top-traded brands by value, but the region also saw trades of more niche labels, including Quintessa and Continuum.
Breakdown of buyer geography
US buyers, perhaps making use of the 90-day pause on the proposed higher tariffs, have re-entered the market. They are not quite back in full force – while bringing their share of purchasing up to 25.7%, their daily average traded value over the past two weeks remains 22.9% lower than in March.
With the first of the major Bordeaux En Primeur releases out this week and a lull over Easter, European buyers have taken a back seat, their share of traded value dropping from 64.2% to 26.7%.
Asian buyers, who will be less focused on En Primeur than their EU and UK counterparts over the coming weeks, have increased their share of purchasing. While the majority of their buying is concentrated in France, US wines have accounted for 14.5% of their purchased value. For the past five years, this figure has typically sat closer to 5%.
What were the week’s top-traded wines?
Château Margaux 2020 was the top-traded wine by value over the past two weeks. It changed hands in high volumes at £3,680 per 12×75 (its lowest ever trade price) and in lower volumes between £3,800 and £4,170.
Liv-ex trades of Château Margaux 2020
Receiving 98 points from Neal Martin (Vinous), and less expensive than other similarly rated vintages (as shown below), Margaux 2020 presents reasonable value.
arlan Estate 2016 was the fourth top-traded wine by value. Trade prices fell swiftly after its release in 2019 but have now risen close to its ex-London release price. While somewhat volatile, price movement here is less bearish than that of the broader market.
Liv-ex trades of Harlan 2016
Top-traded wines by volume
Weekly insights recap
This week, Liv-ex published analyses of the latest Bordeaux En Primeur 2024 releases –Batailley, La Fleur-Petrus, Belair-Monange, Pontet-Canet and Branaire-Ducru. These are now available for all members here. Members on advanced-level packages can access pre-release analyses, critic scores and expected release dates here. Members on Standard packages can access their weekly roundup here.
Liv-ex members were also a sent a deep dive on Château Beychevelle, including a look at the wine’s buyers’ geography and a technical analysis of its index.
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 £140m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
