During the month of August, unique wines traded (LWIN7) reached an all-time high, surpassing the previous month’s record by 14.6%. In the first three days of September, more than 300 unique wines changed hands and with La Place beyond Bordeaux releases set to pick up pace next week, the market looks primed for another month of continued expansion. Volumes traded also reached new highs.
The breadth of trade knocked Bordeaux down to its lowest ever month of trade share (34.7%). The region started the year at 55.3% of trade and was at 72% just three years back.
Burgundy (17.6%) built its previous week’s share, while Italy (20.1%) held relatively level and Champagne (7.9%) drifted. The Rhone (4.8%) continues to command around 4-5% of trade in 2020 up from 3% in 2019. USA (10.4%) had another strong week – trade by value is up more than 200% over the equivalent 8-month period in 2019.
Chateau Latour Pauillac 2012 was the most traded wine by value this week. After opting out of the En Primeur system following the release of its 2011, the 96 point 2012 vintage was released earlier this year – is has since drifted around its release price of £4,100 – £4,200 per 12×75.
Another recent release, Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Riserva Monfortino 2014 made the list. Its 2013 vintage has been the most traded wine by value so far in 2020 and the 2014 sits just two places behind. Highlighted in May, the Monfortino index had outperformed the Italy 100 and Piedmont over the previous two years.
There continues to be interest in Bordeaux 2019 En Primeur wines. Chateau Pape Clement 2019 led by value and was joined by 16 others from the campaign.
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La Place de Bordeaux releases
This week marked the start of the autumnal New World wine releases through La Place de Bordeaux, with the 2018 vintages of Almaviva and Sena. The Chilean wineries were amongst the first to engage with the prestigious distribution network, once exclusive to Bordeaux estates and their annual En Primeur spring release.
Liv-ex Indices in August
Both the Liv-ex 100 and Liv-ex 1000 rose in the month of August, up 0.75% and 0.09% respectively. The Bordeaux 500 rose 0.65% to move into positive territory year-to-date. The Champagne 50 remains the best performing Liv-ex 1000 sub-index, up 4.96% over the past year.
