Market watch

Figures suggest fine wine demand has been relatively buoyant in recent months, but there are ongoing signs of weaker pricing in some areas. Liv-ex highlighted greater trading in Champagne in its July report, and its Champagne 50 index was up by 4% in the year to the end of June.

However, the Bordeaux 500 and Burgundy 150 indices dipped over the same period, despite recovering some ground in June.

Miles Davis, head of professional portfolio management at the Wine Owners trading platform, said trades for top wines were still happening, but he noted a wider gap between bid and offer prices.

UK merchant BI Fine

Wine & Spirits highlighted soft prices for young Bordeaux in its en primeur ‘perspectives’ report, yet added: ‘We envisage that even with the likelihood of recessionary pressures, younger Bordeaux prices will recover over the next 12 months or so.’

Auction houses have recently reported healthy buyer interest. In July, Sotheby’s said a three-day auction in Hong Kong fetched HK$177m (£18m/ US$22.6m), with 50% of

Krug Collection 1979

lots selling above pre-sale high estimates. French online auction specialist iDealwine said that ‘80% of the [almost 43,000] lots put up for sale in the first six months of the year found buyers’.

Among iDealwine’s 20 highest-priced lots were one bottle of DRC’s Romanée-Conti 2009, which fetched €16,578, a bottle of Krug Collection 1979 (€5,250), and a bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild 1994 (€3,500).

In Australia, a bottle of Penfolds Grange 1951 recently fetched a record A$103,555 (£57,200/US$71,750) via a Langton’s auction.

With people less able to visit restaurants and wineries in the Covid-19 crisis, Langton’s general manager Jeremy Parham said that ‘new and existing clients have instead immersed themselves in the world of fine wine from the comfort of their homes’.

Continuing the theme, Cristal 2004 has increased in price by 10% over the past 12 months, reflecting relatively strong demand for Champagne on the secondary market.

This vaunted wine has dropped by 10% over the past year, albeit from a high starting point and following several years of Burgundy price growth.