Trade lulls over Easter and Bordeaux EP kickoff, US buyers regaining confidence 

• While Champagne recovered some of its losses over the past two weeks, Tuscany’s share of traded value fell to just 5.5%.  
• Château Margaux 2020 was the top-traded wine by value, followed by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 2019 
• This week, Liv-ex published analyses of the latest Bordeaux En Primeur 2024 releases – Batailley, La Fleur-Petrus, Belair-Monange, Pontet-Canet and Branaire-Ducru. Liv-ex members were also a sent a deep dive on Château Beychevelle, including a look at the wine’s buyers’ geography and a technical analysis of its index. 

N.B. With the UK trade out of office for Easter Bank Holiday last weekend, Talking Trade was not published on Friday 18^th of April. Thus, this article covers trade from the past two weeks (April 11^th – 24^th).  

Bordeaux remains in the lead, taking a 41.2% share of traded value. This is down from the previous week’s close with 44.4%. Since the start of the year, 2021 Bordeaux has traded frequently, consistently coming in as the top-traded vintage by value. This has now shifted – the 2019s and 2020s are the top traded Bordeaux vintages, with the 2021s coming in seventh place.  

Burgundy’s trade share increased, up from 23.9% to 27.3%. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti 2019 was the region’s top-traded wine by value, but several vintages of  Echezeaux and La Tache and a 2019 assortment case (9×75) also changed hands. 

Champagne saw another weak close, though the region’s share of traded value increased from 5.9% to 8.9%. Dom Pérignon 2013, Cristal 2012 and Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill 2015 were the region’s top-traded wines.  

Tuscany’s share of trade has fallen notably, down from its March average of 11.9% to just 5.5%. This can be partially explained by the pull back of US buyers. In March they accounted for 19.9% of Tuscan buying but have reduced their average weekly spend on the region’s wines by 76.0% (March 1^st – 28^th vs. April 11^th – 24^th ).  

The USA’s share of trade increased from 4.6% to 7.4%. Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle, Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon were the top-traded brands by value, but the region also saw trades of more niche labels, including Quintessa and Continuum.