Recent trading activity
California has been in demand this week, accounting for 20% of total trade by value.
Several Napa Estates were in the spotlight, including Opus One 2019, Promontory 2012 and 2013, Dominus 2017 and Screaming Eagle 2018.
Harlan Estate 2018 also traded at an all-time high of £15,592 per 12×75 on Monday.
Champagne’s tumultuous six months
*made using the Liv-ex Charting Tool.
It would be fair to say that the Champagne 50 index has had a tumultuous few months.
The index tracks the price performance of the most recent physical vintages of the 13 most actively traded champagnes*.
Back in November, it was the best-performing sub-index of the Liv-ex 1000 index for the fifth consecutive month. There was even speculation that it might surpass the Burgundy 150.
However, in February the Champagne 50 was the worst-performing index for the third month in a row. In January the index fell 4.3% and only nine out of its fifty wines went up in value. It also declined 2.5% in November and 2.4% in December.
*Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs and Rosé, Salon Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru, Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill, Philipponnat Clos des Goisses, Perrier Jouët Belle Époque, Louis Roederer Cristal (and its rosé), Krug Vintage Brut, Jacques Selosse Millésime, Dom Pérignon (and its rosé) and Bollinger La Grande Année.
The chart above shows the component white wines of the Champagne 50 sub-index. The rosé components have been excluded, as has Jacques Selosse Millésime (which was added to the index in January 2023).
A closer inspection of the Champagne 50s sub-indices provides further insights into this decline.
For example, Perrier Jouët Belle Époque and Salon Le Mesnil were largely behind the index’s success in 2022: Salon rose 34.4% between January and October (when it started to fall), while Perrier Jouët was up 42.2% between January and November.
Perrier Jouët then experienced the sharpest decline of all the components and fell 13.4% between November and January 2023. However, it is worth noting that all the white wine components of the Champagne 50 also declined during this period.
Since the start of the year, 40 of the 50 wines in the index have seen their Mid Prices fall (nine rose and one ran flat). Perrier Jouët Belle Époque’s 2014 and 2013 vintages have been among the biggest fallers year-to-date, down 14.2% and 10.1% respectively.
Biggest Champagne 50 fallers year-to-date
*made using Liv-ex’s Indices Explorer.
Whether you’re buying or selling, there are currently over 1,319 LIVE Champagne opportunities on your exchange.
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 600 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.
