BI buoyant despite en primeur dip
Good news for producers beyond Bordeaux as investors and collectors turn their gaze away from en primeur to California, Burgundy and distilled spirits
COMPANY RESULTS TYPICALLY make for pretty dry reading, but the latest batch of figures from wine and spirits merchant BI (Bordeaux Index, as it used to be known) provide a few interesting insights into the current state of the market for collectable wine and spirits.
They also suggest that the decision by the company to shorten its name was a wise one: an uninspiring en primeur campaign for the 2017 Bordeaux vintage led to a decline in overall Bordeaux sales in the first half of 2018 – with en primeur receipts less than half those of last year.
And yet overall BI revenues were up 6.1% to £51m compared to the first half of 2017. How come? Is it down to Burgundy? Partly, but sales of wines from the region were only up 11%; far more impressive (although accounting for a much smaller slice of revenues) was the performance of Champagne (+18%), US wines (+96%) and spirits (+251%).
California has no doubt been boosted by a succession of strong vintages hitting the market in recent times, but BI also points to ‘collectors having better knowledge of the ultra-high-end boutique producers across California and becoming more open to trying out New World wines’.
Bordeaux, however, retains its pivotal role within the fine wine market, with three out of the top five wines in terms of investment growth hailing from the region – Château Haut-Brion 1989, Château Margaux 1990 and Carruades de Lafite 2014 (the others being Jaboulet’s La Chapelle, Hermitage 2015 at three, and Salon 2004 at four).
‘In previous years, a lacklustre en primeur campaign has led to a general slowdown in interest for wine buyers – but 2018 has certainly bucked this trend,’ says BI managing director Gary Boom.
‘Bordeaux clearly remains the go-to region, but the market is being driven by mature wines, rather than new releases.’