2005 first growths hit five year low

The 2005s from the Bordeaux first growths have hit a five year low after a steady decline from their 2008 highs, with price falls of over 30%.

The decrease in price has spurred a flurry of interest in the vintage, said Liv-ex, as buyers swooped on wines that have almost reached their en-primeur prices of 2006.

Mouton Rothschild in particular has fallen a lot, trading on Liv-ex recently for £3,600 a case – a mere £100 over its 2006 price – although its average October price was £3,800 (down from a high of £5,800).

In October Haut-Brion, Margaux and Latour were still around £1,000 to £2,000 above their 2006 prices at £4,426, £5,600 and £6,550 a case respectively.

Lafite, which rose the highest from £3,750 to £11,950, has fallen to £7,271, a 39% drop between its peak and October prices.

Proportionally it is Haut-Brion that has fallen the most over this period, dipping 41% compared to 31% for Latour, 35% for Margaux and 34% for Mouton (although Mouton’s drop increases to 37% when comparing its peak price to Liv-ex’s most recent trading figure.

Part of the problem is that prices spiked in 2008 as anticipation of Robert Parker distributing fantastic in-bottle scores grew.

When only two wines received 100 points some of the heart went out of the market into 2009, only to rise again in 2011 as trading conditions picked up.

Prices are apparently still falling and Liv-ex said it was now time to see if prices would stabilise or if release prices would be matched.