Lafite’s premium tumbles to 2009 levels

Lafite’s premium over its fellow first growths has fallen to its lowest point in over three years.

Liv’ex’s graph following the last 10 vintages of the estate showed that despite a small resurgence from December 2011 to March 2012, Lafite has continued to fall since November 2010.

Back in 2005 when the market first began to stir, Lafite was only at a 5% premium over its fellow firsts.

It then climbed quite consistently, barring a hiccup in mid-2008 before doubling from 60% in July 2009 to 120% in May 2010 and at its peak in November 2010 was 130% ahead of the other estates.

However, the gap has now closed to only 75% – the lowest it has been since summer 2009 – and Liv-ex asked on its blog if the market will now “see Lafite return to its pre-China average of around 50%, a premium founded on the wine’s superior quality rather than its label?”

China has of course been the driving force behind Lafite’s rise but as the market has broadened slightly so Lafite has suffered – a fact made clear by Liv-ex when it was recently announced that the US auction market had overtaken Hong Kong again.

Meanwhile, the Bordeaux 500 Index reported a 30% drop in the value of the first growths and their second wines between June 2011 and June 2012.

The strongest performer on the index was the Right Bank 100, which even managed a slight rise in value and finished its year with a mere 0.9% dip.

Another strong performer was the Sauternes 50, which dropped 6% over the year and the Right Bank 50 recorded an 11% loss.