- Bordeaux led weekly trade, followed by Burgundy and Champagne.
- All five of this week’s top traded wines hailed from Bordeaux.
- This week, in light of recent auctions, Liv-ex published a Market Update looking into rare Burgundy opportunities on the exchange.
What’s happening in the secondary market?
Bordeaux continued to lead trade by value this week, slightly increasing its share from 39.8% to 40.3%. While some high-value wines saw trade, the region was largely bolstered by high-volume trades.
Bouncing back from a weak close last week, Burgundy came in second, taking 18.8% of traded value. The region was buoyed by Grand Crus — Domaine Romanée-Conti’s La Tache 2013, Domaine Rapet Pere et Fils’ Corton-Charlemagne 2022 and Bouchard Pere et Fils’ Chevalier-Montrachet 2019.
Champagne followed in third place with a 12.5% share of traded value, down from last week’s 16.9% share. While Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008 took the lion’s share of traded value and volume in the region, Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill 2002 and Rare 2008 tied as most popular by number of trades.
Whereas Tuscany’s trade share is down on last week, Piedmont’s is up slightly. The region saw trades of Roagna, Barbaresco Paje Crichet 2015, Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2015 and Gaja’s Barbaresco 1998.
The USA’s trade share is up week on week, thanks largely to trades of Screaming Eagle’s Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, which was rescored a perfect 100 points by Antonio Galloni (Vinous) earlier this week. Harlan Estate was also frequently traded, with the 2005, 2006, 2012 and 2014 vintages being most sought-after. While 46.3% of buyers of USA wine this week were located in the USA, the wines also proved popular abroad, with 26.3% of buyers in France, 13.2% in Germany and a further 7.3% in the UK.
The ‘Others’ category saw decreased trade share, though Spanish producers, including Dominio de Pingus, Vega Sicilia and R. Lopez de Heredia, remained popular.
What were this week’s top-traded wines?
Bordeaux dominated the top five traded wines by value this week, with all five hailing from the region. Château Pichon Baron 2015 took the top spot as the most-traded wine by both value and volume. Since its release at £995 in 2016, the wine’s Market Price has appreciated by 17.7%. As shown in the chart below, Pichon Baron 2015 has displayed impressive resilience to the wider market’s downward momentum. Since February 2024, it has traded exclusively above its Market Price. This is likely thanks to Pichon Baron’s reputation as one of Bordeaux’s better value wines – though relatively inexpensive, the 2015 vintage received a score of 97 points from Neal Martin (Vinous). It presents attractive value to consumers, and thus, merchants need not decrease their list prices.
Trades of Château Pichon Baron 2015 on Liv-ex
The 2010 and 2012 vintages of Cos d’Estournel placed amongst the top five traded wines by value, both trading underneath their Market Prices of £1,900 and £1,080 respectively. The 2010 vintage received a score of 96 points from Neal Martin. By contrast, the critic awarded the 2012 vintage only 92 points. While both have just entered their drinking window, we expect the 2010 vintage to drink well until 2046, while the 2012 should be drunk prior to 2036. Still, the 2010 comes at a 76.0% premium to the 2012.
Trades of Cos d’Estournel 2010 on Liv-ex
Château Palmer 2017 also featured amongst this week’s top 5 by value. Though 2017 was a difficult vintage, as we detailed in a recent market update, looking outside Bordeaux’s ‘great’ vintages may provide buyers with good value opportunities. This appears to be the case with Palmer 2017, which last traded 11.5% below its market price (£1920).
Weekly insights recap
This week, Liv-ex members were sent a Market Update looking into rare Burgundy available on the exchange under recent auction prices.
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 £100m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
