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The broadening market in the first half of the year

By July 29, 2020Fine Wine Market, Regions

As part of our series analysing the fine wine market in the first half of the year (see best performing wines, most searched for wines by merchant location & most traded wines), today we take a look at the shape of the market: the trade (by value) each region has stimulated.

As has been a trend in recent years, Bordeaux’s market share has continued to decline – so far this year it sits at 45.8%. It has more than halved over the past decade: in 2010, Bordeaux accounted for 95.7%.

Burgundy, which for a long period was be the main beneficiary of Bordeaux’s decline, has also been steadily falling in 2020, and now accounts for 16.4% of all trade, down from an average of 20% last year.

In part helped by the exemption from US tariffs but perhaps more to do with greater critical attention (particularly around the highly regarded Brunello ’15 and Barolo ’16 campaigns) and relative value, Italy’s share has risen from an average of 8.8% (2019) to 14.7%.

The Rest of the World category, led by US (5.6%), Australia (1.6%) and Spain (1.3%), has also enjoyed a dramatic rise in activity, with its share up from 5.2% to 11.2% so far this year.

Champagne has maintained its 2019 level at just below 9%, and the Rhone at 3%.

In the past six months, over 6,300 distinct wines (LWIN11) have traded on the global market. The number of wine labels changing hands has already increased by 3% on all of last year; more to follow in a subsequent blog.