Fine wine market broadens to further heights

The number of unique wines traded on the Liv-ex platform has hit a new high, with over 1,000 LWIN7 marked wines being traded in July alone.

It was recently reported that July proved to be a positive month for the fine wine market, in part due to an ever-broadening array of wines being traded.

Liv-ex pointed out on its blog that the number of unique wines traded on the exchange in the first half of 2020 was 37% higher than over the same period in 2019.

These are wines marked with code known as an LWIN7, which identifies the producer or brand as well as a specific grape variety or vineyard associated with it.

The second half of the year got off to an even stronger start when the number of wines with an LWIN7 traded in July alone exceeded 1,000 for the first time, 20% higher than the previous record monthly high.

Again this is due to an on-going broadening of the market at the expense of Bordeaux. Although a vital component of the fine wine secondary market, Bordeaux’s share of trade has been in decline for some time now.In January of this year, 46% of unique wines traded on Liv-ex were claret, but by July that figure was down to just 34%.

At the same time, while Bordeaux has seen the smallest growth in new wines traded, Italy, Spain and the Rhône are recording exponential growth; with unique wines traded up 154%, 153% and 127% respectively since January.

Wines from Austria, Germany, Chile and the Loire have also seen growth (albeit from a small base) and added new and unique wines to the reading environment.

Italy of course has been rising for some time now. In October last year it was noted that the number of Italian wines traded on Liv-ex had risen 1,500% in the last 10 years.

Italian wines were also excluded from the 25% import tariffs the US recently imposed on numerous EU produce.

Spain meanwhile, for a longtime a rather bit player in fine wine, has seen the number of its unique wines traded rise to match those of the US.