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Fine wine prices fall in January for first time in 12 years

Published:  12 February, 2014

For the the first time in 12 years the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index fell by 0.9% in January, a traditionally strong month.

For the the first time in 12 years the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index fell by 0.9% in January, a traditionally strong month.

Prices on the Liv-ex exchange have have been in decline since June 2011, when the index peaked at 365, to this January, when it closed at 254.83. That is a 30.1% decline since its peak in mid 2011.

Although primarily the drop is due to the cool reception of the en primeur campaign in last couple of years it is not the only reason for the decline last month, according to Justin Gibbs, co-founder and sales & marketing director at Liv-ex.

"There are three main reasons for the Liv-ex 100's decline in January. One is low expectations for 2013 Bordeaux after three previous campaigns that killed the market because of overpricing. The second is a lack of demand from Chinese New Year. The third is general continuation of the negative mood after three consecutive years of market declines (for Bordeaux)," Gibbs said.

Globally, investors are calling for prices to come down at this year's en primeur, particularly since they have not seen the returns they could expect in investing in wines two years prior to its release.

In this month's edition of Harpers Wine and Spirit, we conducted a poll on whether or not 2013's en primeur campaign should even happen, finding mixed results.  Click here to see the full story.

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