THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS THREATENS “FINE WINE” STOCKS: THE HISTORIC AUCTION AT HOSPICE DI BEAUNE EARNS JUST 2.8 MILLION EUROS, DOWN FROM 4.2 MILLION EARNED IN 2007. -12.4% ON LIV-EX 100 FINE WINE INDEX

That the world economic crisis would be felt in the wine sector as well was obvious, but the negative trend now also seems to be touching on the so-called “fine wines”, the most important wines on the planet that have, until now, reaped only stellar prices. But recent warning signs that these wines are also feeling the crunch have appeared. Sales, for example at the historic Hospice di Beaune (Burgundy) earned a mere 2.8 euros, versus 4.2 million earned in 2007, with average wine prices falling by 26.42% compared to those of 2007 (red wines, -31.53%).
Louise Fabrice-Latour, president of the Merchant Farmer Federation of Burgundy (FNEB), denounced a, “stall in exports, and sales during summer months that fell by 9% in volume (5% in value). Even end of the year estimates are negative and indicate a decrease of between 10 and 20%, more conspicuous on the British (-7%) and North American (-20%) markets, and 2009 will certainly not be easy”.
The fall has also been noted by the Live-ex 100 Index (the fine wine industry’s leading benchmark, which measures the oscillations in prices of the most important wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rodano, and Italy; www.liv-ex.com/pages/static_page.jsp?pageId=100): the value of the index in October was 221.62, with a decrease of 12.4% from the previous month.