Fine wines: 2025 of Liv-Ex closes in negative, but with positive signals in the end

After an October and November showing some positive signs, followed by a December on the same trend, 2025 closed still overall in negative territory, but with reasons to hope for a recovery, or at least stability in 2026 for the global secondary market of fine wines, monitored by Liv-Ex and analyzed by WineNews. The Liv-Ex 100, the platform benchmark index (which, after the latest update, includes for Italy: Barolo 2019 by Bartolo Mascarello, Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2017 by Bruno Giacosa, Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2014 and 2015 by Giacomo Conterno, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016 by Biondi-Santi, Barbaresco 2019 by Gaia, Sassicaia 2019, 2020, and 2021 by Tenuta San Guido, Solaia 2021, and Tignanello 2020 and 2021 by Marchesi Antinori, Ornellaia 2021 and Masseto 2020 and 2021 by Frescobaldi Group, and 100% Sangiovese Toscana Igt 2019 by Soldera Case Basse), ended last year down -2.5% (among the top 10 wines by performance, there are 100% Sangiovese Toscana Igt 2019 by Soldera Case Basse and Ornellaia 2021 by Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, with increases of around +11% over 12 months) an improvement compared to the first half of the year.
Similarly, the Liv-Ex 1000, the platform broadest index, closed at -4.5%, with negative performances across many sub-indexes, especially Champagne 50 (-4.2%), Burgundy 150 (-4.8%), and Bordeaux 500 (-6.7%). With the only exception of Rhone 100 (which ended 2025 +0.2% compared to 2024), the best, or “least bad”, was once again the Italy 100, -1.7% over 12 months for the index which includes Barolo by Bartolo Mascarello from all vintages 2011 to 2020, as well as Barbaresco by Gaja, Barolo Monfortino Riserva by Giacomo Conterno from vintages 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2015, Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva by Bruno Giacosa from vintages 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017, and, still, all vintages from 2012 to 2021 of Sassicaia by Tenuta San Guido, of Solaia and Tignanello by Marchesi Antinori, and of Ornellaia and Masseto by Frescobaldi Group, as well as 100% Sangiovese Toscana Igt by Soldera Case Basse from vintages 2009 to 2019 (excluding 2010). The single best-performing wine overall, both in the Italy 100 and the Liv-Ex 1000, was Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva by Bruno Giacosa 2014 with a robust 62.5% over the past year. And with a just begun 2026, the story of the fine wine market is still to be written.