Broader fine wine market rules in February

While the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index trended downwards in February, the broader Fine Wine 1000 climbed to yet another record high.

The Fine Wine 100 index tracks the 100 most frequently traded labels on the secondary market and is the industry benchmark. Last month it took a very slight downward course (0.1%), which marks the third consecutive month it has been running down/flat though the declines have all been small.

The best and worst-performing labels were an entirely mixed bag spanning the Rhône, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italy and Australia.

Beaucastel labels featured in both the risers and fallers; the 2012 Châteauneuf-du-Pape being the month’s to performer (up 6.1%) while its Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2012 Hommage J Perrin, declined for the second consecutive month.

Other risers were Armand Rousseau’s 2012 Chambertin, the 2010 vintages from Pichon Baron and Pavie and the 2013 Tignanello.

Going down, meanwhile, were the 2009 Ducru-Beaucaillou and Montrose, 2010 Penfolds ‘Grange’ and 2009 Palmer.

If the FW100 looked a little shaky though, the broader Fine Wine 1000 index rumbled on in February, up 1.1% on its January finish.

The very slight fall it experienced in December has been completely erased by its performance in the first two months of 2018 and it is, once again, at an all-time high.

Of all its constituent indices, the Burgundy 150 was the best-performer last month, closely followed by the Italy 100 – both indices up over 3%.