The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 – the fine wine industry's leading benchmark – fell 3.90 per cent in December. Having declined for six consecutive months, the index closed at 286.33 – down 14.85 per cent for the year.
The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50, which tracks the daily price movement of recent vintages of the Bordeaux First Growths, fell rapidly between Christmas and New Year. Soft demand saw the benchmark lose 4.96 per cent in December – its fourth-largest monthly fall since January 2000. Encumbered by third and fourth quarter price drops, the index ended the year at 334.45 – a change of -16.62 per cent.
Although price falls at the top end of the market weighed heavily on the Liv-ex Indices, losses were not confined to First Growth quarters. The Liv-ex Fine Wine Investables (which tracks the chateaux commonly found in a wine investment portfolio) dropped 3.13 per cent for the month to 300.55. The index fell 9.97 per cent in 2011.
