Marketwatch investment news What’s making waves in the market
Could fresh market momentum be building around the Rhône? Some analysts have reported signs of movement. Rhône wines can offer relative value for collectors, but opinions about the region’s investment potential are mixed.
Miles Davis, head of professional portfolio management at Wine Owners, said Paul Jaboulet Aîné’s La Chapelle Hermitage averaged £125 per bottle across the past 11 vintages. ‘An absolute snip in fine wine terms,’ he wrote in a market report.
Yet Davis said Rhône prices have picked up generally this year. He suggested it was an area to watch. ‘Seasoned investors have had the Rhône pushed at them before and it has not really worked for them, but I think we live in different times now.’
Liv-ex said in August that the ‘Rhône 100’ was its second best-performing sub-index within the Liv-ex 1000 over 18 months. Guigal’s Château d’Ampuis Côte-Rôtie and the Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape performed best in July.
Not all indices point straight up, however. US auction house Acker said its Rhône price index dropped nearly 8% in the second quarter of 2021. It was up by about 7% year-to-date, albeit far outpaced by Champagne and Italy. Big prices do exist. JL Chave’s rare Cuvée Cathelin Ermitage dominated the top five Rhône lots at Zachys auctions in the first half of 2021. Nine bottles of the 1998 vintage fetched $54,517 (£39,000); six bottles of the 2000 sold for $37,350; and a jeroboam of the 2000 fetched $35,276.