- The first Austrian wine traded on Liv-ex in 2018.
- The broadening market has created more demand for smaller countries and nations and a greater number of opportunities for buyers and sellers.
- Austrian wine trade in 2021 has already surpassed the record total reached in 2020, with a surprising wine leading demand.
In the grander scheme of the secondary market, Austria remains very much a minnow. As the market for fine wine has broadened over the past few years, however, activity around Austrian wine has grown with it.
No Austrian wine was traded in the secondary market until 2018, when a few wines found bidders on the exchange, such as Anton Bauer’s Reserve Pinot Noir and FX Pichler’s M Grüner Veltliner Smaragd.
Since then the growth, albeit from a small base, has been constant. From 2018 to 2019, the value of Austrian wine traded in the market grew 169%. From 2019 to 2020 it rose 287% and from 2020 to 2021 year-to-date it is up another 10.5%.
From 2018 to today, Austrian trade has grown just over 1,000% by value. However, to put this into context, Austrian wine represents a mere 0.02% of the secondary market by value.
The country still has some way to go before it even catches up with its neighbour Germany, which commands a 0.5% share of the market with a trade value 22 times higher.
A broader market means more opportunities
Nonetheless, the steady growth in trade for even a country such as Austria highlights the fact that more choice leads to more trade.
So far in its very short secondary market history, Austrian trade by value has grown year-on-year. With the ‘antifreeze’ scandal of the late 1980s now far behind it, the country is quickly emerging as a source of high quality red and white wines.
Surprisingly, the top Austrian wine traded this year is not a Riesling or Grüner Veltliner from one of the famous names of the Wachau or Kamptal.
Instead it is the Lutzmannsburg Blaufränkisch Alte Reben from Weingut Moric in Burgenland which leads trade by both volume and value. The 2017 and 2015 are the top-traded vintages, with respective Market Prices of £660 and £819 (12×75).
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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 530+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £80m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.