Yesterday marked the first major Bordeaux 2019 release via La Place, and the official launch of the En Primeur campaign. Pontet Canet 2019 was released at €58 per bottle ex-negociant, down 31% on the 2018 opening price of €84.
Early reports suggest that the release was very successful: a positive start to this year’s campaign, where price is going to be the differentiator and closely watched by many.
The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 has been on the move. A gradual softening of Sterling, making First Growths appear cheaper in the eyes of alternative currencies, has helped push the index to nearly a two-month high (330.16), up .60% on the week and 1.92% on the month.
Despite the rising tides of the Fine Wine 50, Bordeaux’s share of value has seemingly plateaued. The region has now accounted for less than 50% of trade for nine of the last ten weeks – a first.
Burgundy (13.1%), Champagne (10.4%) and Italy (12.8%) all drifted around their previous week’s share, but it was Rhone and USA that had the largest movements. The two regions swapped shares from the week prior, as Rhone accounted for 8.1% and USA fell to 1.0%. England (0.40%) also received some attention as multiple cases of Gusbourne Blanc de Blanc 2014 moved hands.
Allemand Cornas Reynard 2015 was the most traded wine by value this week. The 2015 was scored 98 points by John Livingstone-Learmonth of Decanter and trades at a significant discount to the 2009 and 2010 vintages, despite receiving greater critical appraise.
Three First Growths made the Top 5 this week, with the 2015 vintage of Margaux and Haut Brion trailing just behind in the top 20. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 – the measure of First Growth movement – as explained above, has increased over the last two months, with all five individual indices moving positively. The efforts have been led by Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild, followed closely by Latour with Margaux and Haut Brion a little adrift.
Chart 1: Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 since low – Components
Latour 2012 and Forts Latour 2014 released
Two anticipated releases from Latour were announced this week. Back in March, when the wine was initially planned for release, we noted the 2012 could be released with a price tag of £5,000, according to our Fair Value methodology at the time. The release price, however, came in below estimates – full details of both wines can be found in our releases blog.
