Lynch Bages and Leoville Barton – Bordeaux's historic "Irish" estates – are both generally counted amongst the region's Super Seconds (even though the former was officially classified as a Fifth Growth in 1855). But having once traded at around the same price level, the past few years have seen Lynch Bages run well ahead.
Below is a relative value graph showing the price ratio of Lynch Bages and Leoville Barton (ten most recent physical vintages) by month, back to March 2006.
Whereas a basket of Lynch Bages would have cost investors just a touch more than a basket of Leoville Barton five years ago, a collection of the ten most recent vintages would fetch around £8,730 today – compared to £5,700 for Barton (a price ratio of 1:1.58). This difference in price is not due to Parker scores. Post-millenial vintages of Lynch average 90.9 points from Parker, whilst those from Barton average 92.7. If we look at the wines on an individual basis, Lynch 2000 (RP 95), 2001 (RP 89) and 2002 (RP 88) have all increased in value by more than 180 per cent since 2006, and the 2008 vintage (RP 91-93+) has risen in price by more than 40 per cent since late last year. By contrast, Leoville Barton 2008 (RP 92-94) saw little change in the first quarter of 2011, whilst the 2000 (RP 95+) vintage is up a more moderate 45 per cent since March 2006. (The wine has been downgraded by Parker repeatedly since its initial 96-99 point rating ten years ago.)
Lynch Bage's recent run is clearly due to its popularity in Asia. But with its similar heritage and arguably superior status, will Leoville Barton be next to find favour?
Trading members of Liv-ex who are looking to stock up on Barton can view live markets here.
