Fine wine market does not recover: in May, Liv-ex 1000 loses 2.4%

The fine wine market in May continues to show decidedly negative signs, with the Liv-ex 100, the index that analyzes the price trends of the 100 most sought-after wines on the secondary market (including Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2017, Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2016, Gaja’s Barbaresco 2018, Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2013 and 2014, Frescobaldi’s Masseto 2018 and 2019 and Ornellaia 2019, Poggio di Sotto’s Brunello di Montalcino 2017, Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia 2017, 2018 and 2019, Antinori’s Solaia 2019 and Tignanello 2018 and 2019, and Tua Rita’s Redigaffi 2019), which lost 2% on May 2022 and 3.3% since the beginning of the year.

Broadening the analysis to the Fine Wine 1000, which brings together the 1,000 most traded labels from every corner of the world, the trend is even worse, down -2.4% in May and -4.8% since the beginning of 2023. Also on the negative side is the Bordeaux 500, down -1.3% in May and -2% since the beginning of the year, with the en primeur campaign of the 2022 vintage, celebrated by critics and wine merchants, seeming to have had no effect on the price trend. Negative performance also for the Italy 100, which, however, limits the damage, down -0.6% in May and -2.1% since the beginning of the year.

Returning to the Liv-ex 100, as many as 79 labels marked a decline, and just 21 saw their prices rise: among these, behind Domaine de la Romané Conti’s La Tache 2018 (+10.6% in May), Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2013 stands out, trading at £9,000 per case (+6.3% on April and +13.5% since the beginning of the year). On the third step of the podium is Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2011 (+5.4% in May).

Also closing in positive territory were Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia 2018, at position No. 5, at £2,400 per case (+3% in May and +3.8% since the start of 2023), Ornellaia 2019, at £1,780 per case (+2.8% in May and +3.6% since the start of 2023), Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia 2019, at 2. 600 pounds per case (+2.1% in May but -3.7% since the beginning of 2023), Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2017, at 2,218 pounds per case (+1.5% in May and -3.4% since the beginning of the year), and Antinori’s Solaia 2019, at 2,622 pounds per case (+0.4% in May and -2.4% since the beginning of the year).

The picture that emerges, in the end, is decidedly varied, because each territory has labels in positive and negative territory and, above all, there is no index capable of reversing the negative trend. The Burgundy 150, in fact, marks a -2.7% decline in May and -5.7% since the beginning of the year, the Champagne 50-after a 2022 of tremendous growth-loses another 2.1%, marking -9.1% since the beginning of the year, the Rhone 100 even -6.3% in May and -12.3% since the beginning of 2023, and the Rest of the World 60 marking -3.3% in May and -6.7% since the beginning of the year.