Italian fine wine momentum building

The momentum behind Italian fine wines is building as January progresses though Bordeaux continues to dominate trade by value.

According to Liv-ex, although Bordeaux has recovered some of the ground lost in the past few years and is even outpacing Burgundy so far in the first month of 2015, Italy has also been seeing increased levels of trade.

Bordeaux jumped off to a quick start in the first week of January but that lead took a slight dip by the second week when Italy began to emerge.

In the third week Bordeaux’s lead was eroded further still and Italy has continued its rise. The top five wines traded by value are all Bordeaux, Angelus 2012 leading the pack and the irrepressible 2005 Mouton is still in the mix.

But three of the top five wines traded by volume are currently Italian – the second wine from Sassicaia, San Guido, Guidalberto’s 2011 and 2012 vintages and Gaja’s 2012 Magari.

Italy now accounts for 8.2% of all trade by value, second to Bordeaux and above Burgundy’s 7% share.

The fine wine trade will be hoping for a bounce to start the new year and in recent times and before the current dip in Asia, Chinese New Year provided that.

January’s eventual results may not be the whole of the story though, Chinese New Year falls on 19 February this year and if there is to be an uptick in trading, it may pick up as January leads into February.