Claret chip falls as market broadens

First growth losses are continuing to drag Liv-ex’s Claret Chip lower, but the market is showing signs of broadening out.

There have been small gains made by certain vintages from the first growths, but these have been largely outweighed by losses on others.

Lafite 2000 climbed 3% to £16,900 per case and Margaux 2003 rose 2.5% to £4,950 over the past week.

Further gains were made by Mouton-Rothschild 2008, Haut-Brion 2000 and Lafite 2006, which all rose between 0.3% and 2.1%.

However, off-setting these figures were the sharp falls from Lafite 2004 (down 5.5%), Latour 2004 (-5.7%), Mouton Rothschild 2006 (-6.2%), Mouton Rothschild 1998 (-7.7%) and Latour 2008 which was down 9%.

This meant that the Claret Chip closed 355.32 last Friday (18 November), down 2.74 points on the previous week.

Despite Bordeaux’s woes, wines from other regions have seen increased trade of late with particular interest in Italy, Burgundy, the Rhône and Champagne.

As of last week, the top five non-Bordeaux risers were Sassicaia, Ponsot, Salon Mesnil, Angerville and Guigal.

The broadening of the market has been noted for some time now and Robert Parker’s tasting at WineFuture in Hong Kong piqued the interest of buyers sufficiently that it provoked a spike in prices for the wines featured – none of which were first growths.

What is perhaps surprising with the biggest falls in price among the Bordelais, is that it is vintages that are usually thought to be undervalued and overshadowed, such as 2004 and 2006, that appear to have taken the biggest hit.