Recent trading activity
There was an increase in Burgundy trade as the week went on. Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2019, Lucien Le Moine Richebourg 2009 and Bachelet-Monnot Puligny-Montrachet 2017 all seeing activity.
Château Léoville Barton 2019 led trade for Bordeaux. Trade for Champagne switched back to Louis Roderer Cristal 2008, while for US wines Screaming Eagle’s The Flight 2019 was in demand just as the Screaming Eagle 2019 was just the day before.
Finally, there was also trade for the recently released Almaviva 2020 and Château d’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé 2021 also found buyers as summer draws to a close.
Carruades de Lafite is the best-performing wine from the 2005 vintage
Critic Jane Anson is publishing a retrospective of the Bordeaux 2005 vintage today. Before the arrival of the 2009, 2010 and 2016 vintages, the 2005 ranked as one of the all-time ‘great’ modern Bordeaux vintages.
As a vintage it also straddles a period of change for Bordeaux, before its brands became the darling of Asian buyers and also stylistically. The 2005s have always been renowned for their extremely tannic, even austere profile, which modern winemaking has largely alleviated.
However, its wines have been some of the best-performing Bordeaux vintages, stretching into triple-figure returns.
As the table above shows, the biggest risers exceed 300%. Among them are several second wines; Carruades de Lafite, Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild, Le Petit Ducru and Alter Ego.
It is these wines that have seen the biggest transformation in their price and status since they were first released. As their parent grands vins have risen in value, so the second wines became increasingly sought-after, driving up prices in the secondary market (see chart below).
So far this year, the top-traded 2005 Bordeaux have been; Château Latour, Petrus, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Margaux.
They themselves have seen returns since release of 84.0%, 155.5%, 85.9%, 106.9% and 66.3% respectively.
The wines that have experienced the smallest returns and some which have declined in value are all Sauternes.
Opportunities to buy fine wine
There are always plenty of LIVE opportunities for blue-chip Bordeaux on the exchange and currently just over 200 LIVE offers for 2005 Bordeaux.
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 600 merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £80m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
