Liv-ex 100: in September 2023, the decline slowed down (-0.1%), but since the beginning of the year it has fallen 10.3%

Liv-ex, the reference index of the secondary market for fine wines, finally gave some signs of awakening in September. There has not yet been an actual change, but the long downward trend that has characterized its trend for months has slowed down. The WineNews analysis, as usual, starts from Liv-ex 100, the index that monitors the performance of the 100 most traded labels, including Barolo Mascarello's 2017 Barolo, 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 2018, 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 10.3%since the beginning of the year, but in September 2023, after -1.3% plunge in August, has limited the decline to a more sustainable -0.1%.
However, Liv-ex 1000, the index that measures the performance of investment wines around the world, has continued to fall, and since the beginning of 2023, has lost 10.4%, while in the last couple months, it lost another -1%. The regional indices show Italy 100 back up again, rebounding in September +0.6%, fixing the loss from the beginning of the year, and temporarily stopping the decline at -3.7%. Relative to last month, Champagne 50 still holds the second worst figure since the beginning of the year: -13.1%. Rhône 100 is doing even worse, adding a further -1.3% to its high negative trend that has been going on for a year now, falling 17.8% since the beginning of 2023. Bordeaux 500 is still on the same negative track, marking a further decline in prices: -0.8% last month, bringing the drop since the beginning of the year on the Bordeaux wines reference index to -7.9%.
Instead, Burgundy 150 (+42.5%) has guaranteed the highest returns in the last five years; however, in the last 12 months registered -13.4% collapse (-12.7% only from the beginning of 2023). Therefore, it seems to have exhausted its driving force, losing another 2.1% even in September 2023. In positive territory, though, California 50 up +0.3% in the last month, which has still lost 10.4% since the beginning of the year. The Rest of the World 60 has registered + 0.2% growth, slowing down the decline from the beginning of 2023 to -11.3%. Finally, Port 50, the newest entry among the regional indices of Liv-ex 1000, lost 0.5% in September, and -3.8% since the beginning of 2023.
Returning to Liv-ex 100, while there has been a stop to catastrophe, September has marked a decline in the performance of individual wines. The index has confirmed the decline of the previous month and from the beginning of the year, but has also registered a positive trend of just 6 wines out of 100, of which - and this is the good news - two are Italian: Hermitage Rouge 2019 by Domaine Jean Louis Chave (+33.5%), Chateauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 2019 by Domaine de la Janasse (+11, 7%), Montrachet Grand Cru Marquis de Laguiche 2019 by Joseph Drouhin (+8.5%), Ornellaia 2019 by Frescobaldi (+7%), Barolo Monfortino Riserva 2013 by Giacomo Conterno (+6.7%) and Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2019 by Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue (+0.3%). Notable in September are the excellent performances of Bruno Giacosa's Barolo Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva 2016 (+13.7%) and Bartolo Mascarello's Barolo 2017 (+7.9%), which are in second and third place, behind the best-performing wines of the month: Penfolds' Grange 2017 (+18.4%).