Burgundy prices soften further

Recent figures suggest Burgundy grand cru prices continue to retreat on the secondary market, although auction buyers are still interested in the rarest names.

Top Burgundies have been underperforming major equity markets, unlike a couple of years ago, indicated Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, in a new report (see chart).

Its Burgundy 150 sub-index, which tracks the prices of mainly grands crus, also fell 3.7% in January.

It was down nearly 20% over 12 months, and some wines dropped more sharply – such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s (DRC) Richebourg 2014 and Domaine Armand Rousseau’s Chambertin 2015.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at merchant Bordeaux Index, said blue-chip Burgundy prices fell around 13% in 2023, although performance varies. Even on worst-affected names, ‘prices remain well above the early 2021 levels – it’s all relative’, he added.

In a recent outlook report, the merchant reiterated its wariness about price sustainability outside the top 25 ‘blue-chip type’ producers.

AUCTION BUYERS STILL EYEING RARE NAMES

A review of the year 2023 by New York-based auction house Zachys found Burgundy prices remained above pre-Covid pandemic levels.

Trends cannot necessarily be discerned from individual auctions, but a Sotheby’s sale of DRC wines at a Hong Kong-based online auction offered a snapshot of buyer sentiment in early 2024.

Highlights included a three-litre jeroboam of DRC, Romanée-Conti 2002. It sold for HK$520,000 (£53,000), including buyer’s premium (estimate: HK$500,000-$700,000).

A magnum of Romanée-Conti 1998 sold for HK$187,500 (e: HK$170,000$260,000), and a single bottle of the 2013 vintage realised HK$137,500 (high e: HK$130,000).

‘VALUE’ GRAND CRU?

Liv-ex’s recent Burgundy report found ‘many village wines have become disproportionately expensive compared to grands crus’.

It also said Clos des Lambrays, Clos du Vougeot and Corton-Charlemagne were comfortably below the average market price of other grands crus.

The former is a near-monopole of Domaine des Lambrays, which has been owned by LVMH since 2014. Young vintages of its Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru wines recently received strong ratings from Decanter’s

Burgundy correspondent Charles Curtis MW (see decanter.com/premium).