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Burgundy’s biggest risers of 2015
The list of the best performing labels on the secondary market in 2015 from Burgundy highlights the stagnating prices at the top end of the category and the potential return to favour of the region’s white wines.
Although Burgundy slipped below Italy and then Champagne on the Liv-ex marketplace last year, in terms of price the Burgundy 150 index rose to new heights.
Liv-ex has tracked the 10 best-performing wines in the index between December 2014 and December 2015 (see chart below) and what’s striking is the lack of ‘big names’ that have seen the prices of their wines rise.
Over the 12 months to December 2015 Emmanuel Rouget’s 2009 Vosne-Romanée saw the greatest rise, gaining close to 50%.
The sad death of Anne-Claude Leflaive last spring led to a surge in interest in wines from her domaine, there are three of her wines in the chart including her basic Bourgogne Blanc, the 2009 of which rose 37% and her 2002 Bâtard Montrachet which gained 30%.
Other domains on the list are Bonneau Martray, Mommesin, Thibault Liger Belair, Georges Roumier and Domaine William Fevre.
Just one Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wine made the top 10. What’s more it is one of that estate’s more ‘affordable’ labels, the Grand Echezeaux, in this case the 2007.
The lack of Romanée-Conti or La Tâche on the list – some of the most sought-after and expensive wines from DRC – is indicative of the stagnating of prices at the very top of the Burgundy category that has been going on for some years now.
The absence of other key names from Burgundy, Henri Jayer and Armand Rousseau in particular, also suggests that prices for those wines are also hitting their peak as they simply become too costly for buyers.
The on-going stagnation of prices at the top of the Burgundy category and even potential for decline was one of the drinks business’ key predictions for this year.
Furthermore, it is interesting that half the wines on the best performers list are white wines; Leflaive’s Bourgogne Blanc, Fevre’s Chablis Clos and Martray’s Corton Charlemagne among them.
Coupled with the overall praise for the whites of the 2014 vintage is the fear surrounding premature oxidation in white Burgundy starting to wane?