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Critics’ top wines see activity on the exchange 

  • Bordeaux maintained its lead in trade, propelled by the release of Wine Spectator’s top ten wines of the year.  
  • The most traded wines by value predominately hailed from Bordeaux and Burgundy. 
  • Liv-ex published two Market Updates highlighting the most searched-for Italian wines and wines beyond Bordeaux that received 100 points this year.  
  • The Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 has been updated, with technical analysis exclusively available to Liv-ex members. 

What’s happening in the secondary market?  

Bordeaux led weekly trade share by value, with 45.5% of the total. Wines from Château Mouton Rothschild (specifically the 2019) and Château Lafleur (the 2016 and 2019) changed hands. The recent release of the Wine Spectator’s top ten wines of 2023 has sparked increased activity, particularly for Bordeaux wines such as Château Lynch Bages 2020 (ranked third) and Château Pichon Baron 2020 (ranked eight). More on this below.  

Burgundy held a robust second position, securing 25.9% of regional trade by value. Three wines from this region took the lead in terms of top-traded wines by value. Domaine Armand Rousseau was the overall top-traded producer this week, holding 7.3% of total trade. 

The United States has seen an uptick in activity, its trade share increasing to 6.4% of regional trade by value. Kistler, one of the producers featured in the Wine Spectator’s top wines of the year, and Opus One wines experienced heightened activity with Kistler Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2020 and Kistler Les Noisetiers, Sonoma Coast, 2021 making appearances in the top-traded list by volume.  

What were this week’s top-traded wines?  

This week’s top-traded wines by value were dominated by wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Château Mouton Rothschild 2019 was among them, currently trading at £4,540 per 12×75, an increase from its release price of £3,588 per case. However, looking at the graph below, the wine’s price appears to be trending downwards towards its initial release price. Interestingly, this downward movement seems to coincide with the time the wine became physical. Nevertheless, the wine holds high scores with 100 points from Lisa Perrotti-Brown and 97 points from Neal Martin. 

Château Mouton Rothschild 2019 trades on Liv-ex 

As mentioned earlier, the Wine Spectator has been releasing its top ten wines of the year. Château Lynch-Bages 2020 secured the third position and subsequently experienced trading activity on the exchange, landing the wine a spot on the list top-traded wines by volume this week.

Château Lynch-Bages 2020 trades on Liv-ex

Château Pichon Baron 2020 doesn’t feature in the top five most active wines in terms of volume this week (it came in ninth position), but it did make the eighth spot on the Wine Spectator’s list. Interestingly, the wine saw its trade price surge leading up to the announcement, followed by a subsequent decline. This fluctuation may be attributed to increased demand post-announcement, but also shows that within the context of a declining market, correct pricing remains a crucial factor for successful transactions. 

Château Pichon Baron 2020 trades on Liv-ex 

James Suckling releases top 100 Wines of the World 2023  

On Wednesday, James Suckling announced his Wine of the Year: Laurent-Perrier’s Champagne Grand Siècle Grande Cuvée N.26, calling it ‘a sensational-quality bottle showing incredible texture, depth and complexity’. Mention was also made of how the wine ‘highlights how the region of Champagne may be one of the most exciting in France, and Europe at the moment’. The wine has since seen activity on the secondary market, with 13 six packs trading within the last 24 hours.  

The below are the top ten wines of 2023 according to the critic:  

Weekly insights recap  

This week, Liv-ex published two Market Updates available for all members to read. The first highlighted the most searched-for Italian wines and the other revealed which wines beyond Bordeaux have received 100-point scores in 2023. A blog featuring the updated Liv-ex 1000 figures was also released, with technical analysis on the index available to members.  

Not yet a member of Liv-ex? Request a demo to see the exchange and a member of our team will be in touch with you shortly. 

  

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 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.