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Liv-ex 2017 Classification – the global rankings

Last week, Liv-ex published its fifth Classification of Bordeaux. Like the original classification of 1855, it places fine wines into five classes solely based on price.

The Left Bank classification was posted last Thursday. Earlier this week, we published classifications of the second wines and the Right Bank.

For the first time, this year’s Liv-ex classification has been extended to include regions beyond Bordeaux.

The same criteria has been applied to select these: they must trade sufficiently on the market and must command an average trade price of at least £250 per 12×75 (volume weighted) to be considered. The full methodology is below.

Rest of the world highlights

Wines from six countries have achieved places in the classification: France (Rhone, Champagne, Burgundy), Italy, Spain, the USA, Australia and Chile.

There are 19 First Growths and Burgundy dominates, accounting for 13 of the top category. Unsurprisingly, DRC Romanee Conti tops the table. Screaming Eagle is the only First Growth from the USA and is the highest-priced from outside of Burgundy.

Masseto is Italy’s only First Growth while Pingus represents Spain. Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace prove that Australia is capable of producing wines that can compete with the best of Bordeaux on the secondary market.

There are 37 Second Growths, with Chile represented here by Almaviva. This ranks it alongside Bordeaux’s Pichon Baron and Leoville Poyferre. Chilean Clos Apalta has achieved a place among the Fourth Growths.

The full rankings can be found in the table below:

Methodology

The average Liv-ex trade price is calculated using actual trades on Liv-ex from 30/04/2016 to 01/05/2017. To warrant a classification, at least five vintages of a wine must have traded in the period. The average Liv-ex trade price is expressed for a 12x75cl unit in GBP and is volume weighted.

The Liv-ex Bordeaux 500 index has moved 25% since the 2015 reclassification. Price bands have been adjusted accordingly.

The resulting classes are:

  • 1er Cru – £2,500 or more
  • 2eme – £688 to £2,499
  • 3eme – £438 to £687
  • 4eme – £313 to £437
  • 5eme – £250 to £312

Find out more


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