Right Bank wobbles?

The strongest performing index in the Liv-ex Bordeaux 500, the Right Bank 100, has suffered a slight dip in recent months, is the surge coming to an end?

The index (which tracks the last 10 vintages of 10 Right Bank estates including Pavie, Evangile and Angélus), has fallen 4.1% recently following 13 months of non-stop rises.

Last year the Right Bank was by far and away the dominant force in Bordeaux, at least in terms of success, every month bringing fresh confirmation that as the Left Bank suffered, Pomerol and Saint Emilion’s wines were flourishing.

Overall it has risen 64% in the last five years and despite the recent setbacks is still the best performing Bordeaux index.

Even last month it was Château Ausone which topped the best performing wines in January.

The elevation of Pavie and Angélus to grand cru classé A status last year, though controversial, was a particularly beneficial boon for the two properties and the Right Bank index as a whole.

Prices rose 25% on average for both wines but the rapid rise in price has led to a tapering pool of buyers and gains have “slowed”, said Liv-ex on its blog.

Another Right Bank estate to see great strides cut short is l’Eglise Clinet. It was the only wine from the 2012 vintage to receive 100 point potential from Robert Parker.

The Right Bank in general seemed to do rather in better in 2012 and it was hailed a “classic” Merlot year.

L’Eglise Clinet saw a rise in price early last year post-Parker’s scores but it has almost entirely ceded those gains over the past couple of months (see chart below).

Figeac, Troplong Mondot, Vieux Château Certan are also on the slide at the moment although over a 10 year period Figeac is the third best performer on the index behind Angélus and Fleur Pétrus.

One not to be ignored potentially is Clos Fourtet, which was pegged back in August 2012 as a strong performer and which appears to be overcoming a difficult patch in late 2013 with a strong bounce.

Liv-ex though asked in its summing up: “Does the recent change in momentum suggest its relative outperformance is coming to an end?”