2002 Comtes highest riser for Champagne

The 2002 vintage of Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne continues to make gains and is the best performing Champagne label so far this year according to Liv-ex.

Looking at the performance of post-2000 vintages so far this year, two vintages of Comtes stand out from the pack and the top five best risers from the category are all showing very healthy returns.

The fine wine market has now seen 10 consecutive months of rises and while the main story has been the striking return to form of Bordeaux, other fine wines have not been left behind.

The Champagne sub-index on the Fine Wine 1000, for example, rose 3.1% in September – far better than the overall index which only went up 1.3%.

Since this May the index has climbed 5.6% and the average monthly share of trade is 4.4% by value. This isn’t quite as much as it was at its peak of 5.8% in 2015

Leading the Champagne charge are the 2002 and 2000 vintages of Taittinger’s Comtes, followed by the 2004 and 2002 vintages of Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses and then 2000 Dom Pérignon.

The 2002 Comtes has risen 46.2% from December 2015 to this September and now sits at £1,901 for a case of 12.

The 2000 meanwhile is up 36.6% over the same period, the 2004 Clos des Goisses 35.5%, the 2002 30.9% and the DP 28.5%.

The 2002 Comtes has form in this regard. When it was released in 2012 it swiftly became the most widely traded Comtes. In 2011 just 11 trades in Comtes were recorded on Liv-ex, after the release of the 2002 that rocketed to 351.

All the wines come highly rated but the performance of Comtes is also largely based on its rather more “accessible” starting prices.

The 2002 Comtes is a case in point. Released at £880 per dozen in the summer of 2012, with its current price of £1,901 it has appreciated 116% in four years.

Clos des Goisses appears rather more of an anomaly in this regard. It is usually released at around the £1,000 mark – more akin to Cristal and more expensive than most Dom Pérignon launches too. Nonetheless, small production, high scores and high demand help to both propel it upwards and maintain its value while other, bigger volume, labels are absorbed into the market and usually take a step backwards.

The 2000, 2002 and 2004 vintages are also much in demand currently. Liv-ex noted last month that in the past year the prices of top Champagnes from 2004 are up 17.7%.

By contrast the 2005 and 2006 vintages have been a lot quieter with most running flat over the past year. All, that is, except Comtes’ 2005 which has carried on gaining around 10% since last year.