When Bordeaux releases a new vintage it requires capital
from the market, and the numbers can be surprisingly big. (The 2010 vintage, at
record release prices, raised in excess of £1bn). In a successful release, the
new funds usually come from private collectors or investors. But when a release
fails, as happened in both 2011 and 2012, the negociants and merchants need to generate
money from their existing stock holdings in order to pay for their allocations.
They will typically hold the most stock in the latest physically released
vintage – this year, the 2010s.
Subsequently, trade for the Bordeaux 2010s on Liv-ex this
month has reached a 21-month high, as shown below. After a spike in prices
earlier in the year related to the in-bottle Parker scores, this new activity
is beginning to put pressure on prices. This may not be positive news for those
who already own the vintage, but given the quality of the wines it presents an
interesting opportunity for those who don’t.
* Calculated using
each month’s last trade prices for May’s ten most traded 2010s – Ducru
Beaucaillou, Lafite, Latour, Lynch Bages, Margaux, Montrose, Palmer, Petrus,
Pichon Baron and Pontet Canet.
