Liv-ex is the fine wine market. Merchants from around the world use our trading, data and settlement services to help grow their fine wine businesses. Liv-ex’s global network enables members to trade safely and efficiently with other merchants worldwide. Our comprehensive data brings transparency to the market, and offers valuable insights to merchant members and their customers. Liv-ex settlement services ensure that all trades are fulfilled safely.
Liv-ex was founded in 2000 by two stockbrokers, James Miles and Justin Gibbs. It started with a group of 10 founding members in London, and a vision to make fine wine trading more transparent, efficient and safe. The founders believed that by creating an online exchange, they could grow the size of the market to the benefit of Liv-ex’s merchant members and everyone with an interest in fine wine.
Since then, membership has grown to over 400 merchants from 36 countries worldwide, and our services have expanded to include data, settlement and technology. This has all been made possible due to the continued support of our members, to whom we owe a huge thanks.
With our members’ help, Liv-ex continues to obsess about making the fine market more transparent, efficient and safe and removing barriers to trade. You can read Co-Founder James Miles’s thoughts on Liv-ex’s role in facilitating this here.
June 2000
The first trade on Liv-ex takes place when a 12×75 case of Gruaud Larose 1982 trades for £964.
April 2000
Liv-ex is founded by former stockbrokers James Miles and Justin Gibbs.
2002
Trading on Liv-ex becomes anonymous.
2003
Cellar Watch is launched, enabling collectors to track fine wine prices.
2004
The Liv-ex 100 Index is launched.
2005
Our first monthly fine wine market report is shared.
2006
Bloomberg launches the Liv-ex 100 on its terminals.
2007
Liv-ex acquires Vine, a warehouse services and logistics business, to help streamline the settlement of trades.
Nov 2008
The first Power 100 list of the world’s top fine wine brands is produced. This has since been produced annually in conjuction with the drinks business. A full set of power lists can be found on our reports page.
Jun 2009
Liv-ex’s first reclassification of Bordeaux is released. This has been recalculated every other year since. The latest version, created in 2017, can be viewed here. It has been expanded to include wines from all around the world.
Jun 2010
Liv-ex membership hits 300 across 30 countries.
2011
LWIN, Liv-ex’s unique identifier for fine wine, is introduced.
Mar 2012
We interview critic Robert Parker as part of a series of articles on wine industry figures.
Nov 2016
By November 2016, all Liv-ex services were available via API and DMA was being used by customers.
Aug & Sep 2016
Liv-ex’s first trades for Chinese and English wine: Nyetimber Cuvee Classic 2010 and Ao Yun 2013
May 2016
Liv-ex wins the Supply Chain Initiative of the Year award for SIB Passport and Instant Transfer.
June 2017
Wine Matcher is launched, enabling members to clean and price wine lists in a matter of minutes. It goes on to win the Supply Chain Initiative award from the drinks business.
June 2017
We commit to making LWIN free forever with the adoption of a Creative Commons licence for its dictionary.
March 2018
Liv-ex begins to roll out its new mobile-friendly trading platform. New features are added frequently, such as the ability for members to bid against list prices.
May 2018
Liv-ex wins Supply Chain Initiative of the Year award for the third year in a row. This year’s initiative is to make LWIN freely available for all to use. “Our judges praised Liv-ex’s innovative LWIN system … and applauded the company’s ‘generous and selfless’ decision to make the service free for other companies to use, acting ‘for the greater good of the wine trade'”, says the drinks business.
DATA
The most trusted database of fine wine prices at your fingertips, and a host of online products to help you make the most of it.
TRADING
Join the largest pool of fine wine merchants globally and take advantage of unparalleled opportunities to buy and sell wine.
SETTLEMENT
From order through payment to delivery, transactions are expertly cared for by Liv-ex, reducing cost, time and risk.