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Talking Trade – Italian regions take growing share as US and Champagne dip

Last week, while Burgundy and Bordeaux claimed the leading labels traded, Tuscany and Piedmont took more of the week’s overall regional share than both Champagne and the Rhône.

  • Tuscany and Piedmont saw the biggest increase in trade from last week. 
  • Champagne and the US saw their share dip by contrast. 
  • Wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti topped trade by value. 

Weekly insights recap 

The California Report was made free for all to read this week. Published this summer, the report explores the development of Californian wines as an emerging category in the fine wine secondary market. 

Following on from a post on Lafite’s growing price premium, the average scores of the estate were also compared to the other First Growths, proving the power of the château’s brand at the moment. 

Don’t for get that you can catch up on all of the week’s Market Updates on the website as well. Singling out LIVE opportunities in the market, this week they covered topics as diverse as the value in vintage Port, recent re-evaluations of 2001 and 2017 SauternesRidge’s out-performance in the California 50 and Jancis Robinson MW’s Bordeaux 2011 buying tips. 

This week’s trade by region

 

Although it dominated discussion in several posts recently, Bordeaux’s share fell further this week. Champagne has also been on a small slide (it was at 11% two weeks ago) while the US’s market share is settling down after a busy few weeks. 

Tuscany and Piedmont meanwhile, took a step forwards, out-pacing the Rhône and Champagne in trade share. Piedmont took the third-largest share of trade overall.  

Most traded wines 

Nonetheless, when looking at the week’s leading labels traded, it was a distinctly Bordelais-Burgundian affair. 

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Leroy, perhaps unsurprisingly, took top spots thanks to a renewed increase in prices this year. This August we pointed out that five vintages of DRC’s Romanée-Conti had hit new all-time highs this year. 

Château Latour’s 1982 vintage also had an outing. As can be seen in the chart below, this famous vintage from a famous estate has appreciated greatly since release – over 7,000% – but nonetheless is currently some way off its former peak set back in August 2018. 

*made using the Liv-ex charting tool

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Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 550+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £90m of bids and offers across 20,000 wine markets. Independent data, direct from the market.