Fine wines slowing in August, but still in positive terrain in 2022. Liv-Ex data

International tensions, the gas crisis and inflation also seem to be cooling enthusiasm in the market for collecting and investing in great wines, which remains, however, a happy island. According to August 2022 data from the Liv-Ex, the benchmark for this niche in the wine market, the Liv-Ex 100, the platform’s main index, is seeing mixed trends. Because, as the Liv-Ex itself explains, it is up +1.3% in August compared to July 2022 when measured in pounds, but actually down -1.8% when measured in Euros, and down +3.4% when calculated in dollars. And, since the beginning of the year, Liv-Ex further explains, overall, fine wine prices are down -3.2% in euros, and -14.1% in dollars. In any case, among the top performers, among the Italians Masseto 2017 stands out, whose price for a 12-bottle case is now £6,600, up 10%, but in the “top 10” for price growth (dominated by Louis Roederer’s Champagne Cristal) is also Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia, with 2017, at +7.2%, and 2016, at +6.7%. Flat, however, is the August performance of the Liv-Ex 1000, the platform’s broadest index (still at +11.7% since the beginning of the year), which also includes the Italy 100, up slightly month-on-month (+0.9%), at +6.5% since the beginning of 2022, and at +15% over the 12 months. Driving the performance of the Italian index, from the WineNews analysis, in this case, are mainly Barolo wines, but not only. In the Italian “top 10” of price increases, relative to August, is Soldera Case Base’s Toscana Sangiovese 2011, at +17.3%, ahead of Gaja’s Barbaresco 2009 (+13.7%), Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2012 (+11.1), Masseto 2017 (+10), and then Mascarello’s Barolo, vintage 2010 (+8.7%) and 2011 (+8.1%), ahead, in terms of rises, of Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2001 (+8.1%), Gaja’s Barbaresco 2011 again (+7.9%), Antinori’s Solaia 2011 (+7.8%) and Tenuta San Guido’s Sassicaia 2017 (+7.2%). Since the beginning of 2022, however, the Italian wines that have grown the most are Soldera Case Basse’s Toscana Sangiovese 2014 (+50%), Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2011 (+40.5%), and Gaja’s Barbaresco 2014 (+35%).