Burgundy drifts down trading table

Champagne has usurped Burgundy as the third most traded wine region by volume so far this year on Liv-ex.

In August it was reported that Italy’s regions had overtaken Burgundy as the second most traded group by volume behind Bordeaux and now Burgundy has drifted further and allowed a surging Champagne category to get ahead of it.

Champagne’s success in September has given it the edge with a 6.6% average monthly share of trade to Burgundy’s 6.2%. This is roughly double its monthly average trade in 2014.

Although Burgundy has been the chief beneficiary of Bordeaux’s fall from grace between 2011 and 2013, its share of trade rising from 2.6% to 7% in that time, other regions are now coming on strong.

A lot of Burgundy’s success has been down to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti but that label hit a peak in 2012 and has been coasting ever since.

Italy and Champagne, with greater volume and lower prices have thus stolen a march on a stagnating Burgundy category hampered by correspondingly high prices and low (if not tiny) volumes.

Liv-ex noted that 71 different Champagne labels have traded so far this year including Cristal 2006 and 2007 and Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne 2005 and 2006.