Liv-ex : A New Index to Match an Expanding Market

The landscape of the fine wine market is changing considerably; Burgundy, Champagne, Italy, the Rhône and New World trades have grown significantly while  Bordeaux trade has fallen from 95% to 80%.  This is not a recent phenomenon and is, in fact, a topic which has been central in our last few Quarterly Market Reports.

In reaction to Bordeaux’s diminishing supremacy, Liv-ex has just announced the launch of its newest index, the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000. Tracking 1,000 wines from around the world (using the Liv-ex Mid Price methodology) it includes seven sub-indices which allow for drilling down into trends.

The Liv-ex 100 has been widely considered the industry’s leading benchmark as it represents the price movement of the 100 most sought-after wines (calculated monthly). The majority of the index has always been Bordeaux although wines from Burgundy, Rhône, Champagne and Italy are also included. When it was launched in 2001, Bordeaux made up 92% of the Index and has since dropped to 80%. The region’s wines are blamed for weighing down the Index which just closed down for the third consecutive year which is unprecedented.  

As Liv-ex Director James Miles commented the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 inde has been launched to “reflect the increasing breadth and depth of the fine wine market. The index is the broadest measure of performance available, while its sub-indices offer an invaluable insight into underlying trends. The most noticeable of these is just how well regions outside of Bordeaux are doing. Many of the Burgundy, Champagne, Italy and New World wines are close to record levels, having risen by 8-9% in the last year on average.”

Last month, the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 closed at 255, reflecting a year-on-year rise of 3%. It has outperformed the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100, Gold and the Nationwide House Price Index over a five year period. The full data series can be here.