The development of wine and champagne prices is as complex as the fermentation process. However, only one region escaped the price collapse.
The prices for wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne & Co. have been plummeting for months.
Historically, wine prices remained relatively stable for a long time, especially in the established wine regions such as France, Italy and Spain.
Boom in luxury goods
In the 1980s, however, prices for high-quality wines, particularly from Bordeaux and Burgundy, began to rise sharply.
Those price explosions were influenced by several factors, including an increasing demand for luxury wines and the limited supply of the top wines.
During that period, the international market for luxury goods also experienced strong growth, and wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, as well as Champagne, were increasingly viewed as investment opportunities.
Prices plummet
The very best vineyards in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne are still limited and production cannot be increased easily, which has driven up prices accordingly.
However, prices have been plummeting for months, as can be seen from the Liv-ex fine wine indices.
This barometer is also highly respected among Swiss collectors of top wines.
In the current year, for example, the broad-based Liv-ex-Fine-Wine-1000-Index has already recorded a decline of 6.3 percent.
Wines such as Chateau Mouton Rothschild Premier Cru Classe, Pauillac, or Chateau Pavie Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, or Le Pin, Pomerol, are all included in outstanding vintages.
Rhône fizzles
The June 2024 value is already down 13.2 percent over the year. Within two years, the well-known wine barometer has plummeted by almost 20 percent.
Only the hype during the coronavirus pandemic and the price boom before that caused the index to rise by 9.1 percent over a five-year period.
Bordeaux is currently at the same level as of five years ago. Price slumps of around 15 percent have caused prices to fall significantly again in recent years.
Wines from the Rhône are looking particularly dramatic. They have lost almost 30 percent of their sales prices within two years and are also down almost 10 percent over a 5-year period.
Dom Pérignon, Krug & Co.
Only two regions or product categories have been able to escape this negative price trend.
One is the champagne area around Krug, Dom Pérignon, Laurent Perrier & Co.
However, prices for this fine sparkling beverage have also tumbled considerably over the past two years – down 20 percent according to the Liv-ex index.
However, the boom from previous years resulted in an increase of over 40 percent across a five-year comparison.
The index includes exquisite wines such as Dom Pérignon P2 from 2004, Krug Vintage Brut 2002 and Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2008.
Still up 30 percent
And the others are Italian wines. They managed to relatively escape the falling price trend almost completely. Those prices have only fallen by 4.5 percent over the past two years.
And over a five-year period, Italy’s 100 best wines have actually risen by almost 30 percent.
In addition to the balance between supply and demand, tradition and innovation, skill also has it’s influence.
04.08.2024/kut./ena.
