Early Bordeaux 2025 en primeur sales rose on last year’s weak 2024-vintage campaign, according to Geraint Carter of international merchant Bordeaux Index and Miles Davis of Vinum Fine Wines. Farr Vintners’ Thomas Parker MW said sales were up ‘a little’ although below the level of five years ago.

Cheval Blanc 2025 was one success. ‘We sold everything we could get,’ said Carter.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said that the St-Emilion estate released everything it made after especially low yields.

Parker said Batailley and Lynch-Bages were top sellers. Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at Corney & Barrow, cited interest in Lafite, plus Mitjavile and Moueix offers, but also said: ‘Demand has been slower than the vintage deserves.’

Despite high scores, Bordeaux 2025 is entering a world of macroeconomic uncertainty. Carter said en primeur is largely ‘an amplification of what’s going on in the [wine] market, and the market is flat.’

He agreed it’s a great time to be a Bordeaux drinker, with good availability of high-quality vintages, but said 2025 release prices weren’t compelling enough in a tough environment.

He also highlighted the value offered by the well-regarded 2019 vintage (see table), with several years of bottleageing (and storage costs) under its belt.

Liv-ex’s Bordeaux 500 index – one indicator of pricing in the secondary market – was down 16.5% in value over five years to the end of May 2026.

While stable year-to-date, it was back to mid-2016 levels. Châteaux haven’t stood still. For example, Liv-ex data showed Lafite 2025’s release price was up year-on-year but otherwise the lowest of the past decade.

Vinum’s Davis said many 2025 en primeur prices looked relatively reasonable. He said there’s an ‘amazing opportunity’ for younger collectors to build a drinking cellar.

In his view, it’s not an investment market and people aren’t buying to make money, but he added: ‘There will be a time when we look back at these prices and think, were they really that cheap?’

Bordeaux 2025 vs 2019: A pricing snapshot

Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter said 2019 is a good-quality vintage that may present value for collectors who are considering alternatives to 2025 en primeur releases.

While some 2019s look more expensive than corresponding 2025s at face value, they have already been aged for several years.

DATA SUPPLIED BY BORDEAUX INDEX/LIVETRADE

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

En primeur own goals

The old maxim is that you can only control what you can control. For en primeur, that boils down to two things: the price and the offer.

Leaving the price to one side, en primeur today is, in essence, a marketing event. Bordeaux enjoys an extraordinary privilege: for a few weeks each year, the attention of the fine wine world is focused almost entirely on the region.

That opportunity should be cherished. Yet the 2025 campaign has felt like a masterclass in how to squander momentum.

Late April’s early releases were followed by two weeks of near silence, before a few releases around the holidays and a flood of big names in the closing stages.

In what was always going to be a difficult campaign, allowing interest to dissipate for weeks at a time was bizarre. For en primeur to succeed, the process has to feel transparent.

Visibility has improved, but buyers increasingly suspect that release quantities are being managed more aggressively, which feeds a damaging conclusion that the wine will be as easy, and quite likely cheaper, to buy in a few years.

Direct consumer engagement is also better, but in a world of abundant choice, the case for greater outreach is stronger than ever.

It’s difficult and expensive, yet it’s one of the few levers still entirely within Bordeaux’s control. If consumers are worth courting, then chances to do so must be seized wholeheartedly.

Now, did someone mention price?

Leroy leads Burgundy mega-sale

Wealthy collectors’ thirst for superstar Burgundy has appeared undimmed at recent US auctions, led by notable rarities from Domaines Leroy and Georges Roumier.

Auction house Hart Davis Hart (HDH) claimed a new record auction price for a single bottle of Domaine Leroy wine after selling the Burgundy producer’s Musigny Grand Cru 2015 for $95,600 (£71,374), including buyer’s premium (hammer price $80,000; high estimate $30,000).

It was from the ‘Orion Collection’ that formed part of a three-day auction marathon in May. All 3,563 lots offered found buyers, generating sales of $14.66m.

‘The market remains incredibly robust,’ said Hart Davis Hart CEO Paul Hart. Leroy’s Musigny is among the world’s most expensive wines, although prices can vary.

From the same collection, HDH sold single bottles of 2011 and 2013 for $41,825 and $35,850 respectively (high e: $30,000 and $28,000). In New York in June, a Christie’s auction of wines from ‘a Silicon Valley pioneer’ was also 100% sold.

Six bottles of Georges Roumier, Bonne-Mares 1971 fetched $100,000, including buyer’s premium (high e: $35,000).

In Hong Kong, meanwhile, rare Bordeaux was prominent as Bonhams offered wines from fashion designer Marie France van Damme.

A bottle of Saute Loup 2010, rarely sighted and made by Pomerol icon Petrus, sold for HK$13,750 (£1,314), including buyer’s premium (high e: HK$9,500).

A bottle of legendary Petrus 1961 fetched HK$81,250 (high e: HK$70,000).

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In general, fine wine prices have continued to stabilise in 2026. ‘Prices have stopped going down and in little niches they have gone up a bit,’ said Geraint Carter, of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform.

Major indices at Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, were broadly flat in the four months to 30 April.

Its Fine Wine 50 index, tracking Bordeaux first growths, performed best, rising 0.7%. Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, with offices in the UK and Asia, reported strong wealthy buyer interest in ‘high octane, rare’ wines, plus resurgent demand in China, despite a ‘dreary’ overall market.

Vinum also sold more Pontet-Canet 2025 than expected as Bordeaux en primeur got underway. Carter characterised the market as ‘challenging’ with bursts of activity.

Top sellers include five-star Bordeaux and middle-aged Champagne (see box, below).

Some LiveTrade bidders have found willing sellers below market prices, yet Bordeaux Index has also sold large format, ex-château stock at surprisingly high prices.

Global consultancy group Knight Frank highlighted a rising thirst for visually appealing, large-format bottles over the past decade.

‘The growing prevalence of glass-fronted wine rooms in prime homes is influencing what collectors buy,’ said its 2026 Wealth Report, citing Liv-ex as a data partner.

Some auction houses have been enjoying a purple patch. Nick Pegna, global head of wines and spirits at Sotheby’s, said: ‘We have really seen a change from September last year onwards. For the year so far globally, we’ve sold 96% of the lots that we’ve offered, which is stronger than we’ve seen for a number of years.’

Collectors are currently seeking out mature, ready-to-drink fine wines at a range of different price levels, he said.

‘There are people happy to buy a £150 bottle of mature Pichon Comtesse, as well as people spending 200,000 [US] dollars on 1870 Lafite, and everything in between.’

However, looking ahead, Pegna echoed other trade members in expressing caution regarding a turbulent geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

First among equals?

Bordeaux’s relative decline in the fine wine market over the past 15-20 years has felt almost inexorable.

In 2010’s China-led buying frenzy, it formed close to 80% of our trade by value; today that figure is nearer 40%.

To traditionalists, this can seem faintly apostatic, but it simply reflects the habits of modern consumers.

The world of fine wine has broadened hugely. Burgundy, Champagne and Tuscany have all improved dramatically in quality, consistency and market prominence.

Consumers now have access to a far wider range of great wines than ever before, and Bordeaux’s dominance was never going to survive unchanged.

Ironically, Bordeaux itself has never been more technically accomplished; the region is producing more delicious and consistent wines across all price levels.

Yet modern tastes aren’t driven solely by quality. Long ageing windows, overt brand orientation and an overall air of seriousness can feel out of step in an age infatuated with immediacy, personality and narratives.

Still, Bordeaux retains unrivalled scale, liquidity and recognition, and a habit of producing extraordinary wines in great vintages. In many respects, it feels less like a fallen empire, more like a ‘first among equals’.

As en primeur rolls on with reduced traction, the challenge is less about reclaiming dominance than showing why the system still deserves consumers’ attention.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and ‘immortal’ Bordeaux lead auction scene

Celebrated composer and musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber has auctioned wine cellar treasures via Christie’s in London, raising £517,910 for musical instruments and tuition in schools.

Every lot sold, with a bottle of Château Margaux 1900 fetching £35,000, including buyer’s premium, outpacing a pre-sale high estimate of £7,000. Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti delivered the highest price in the sale, however.

A three-bottle lot of Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2005 sold for £56,250, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £45,000).

All hammer proceeds will go to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Programme, which is administered by the Music in Secondary Schools Trust.

It has been another busy period for high-profile auctions generally. In New York, a Sotheby’s auction of ‘immortal’ Bordeaux vintages also saw every lot find a buyer.

Total sales hit $2.1m (£1.55m), $800,000 above the pre-sale high estimate. Flagship lots included two magnums of Lafite Rothschild 1870, a hallowed vintage.

Both came from a well-preserved cellar at Scotland’s Glamis Castle more than 50 years ago. While the first magnum fetched $106,250, including buyer’s premium, the second sold for $200,000 – four times its pre-sale high estimate, Sotheby’s said.

In the UK, Dreweatts auctioned Lord Rothschild’s Stowell Park cellar and again, all lots sold.

A double magnum of Lafite Rothschild 1975 fetched £2,100 (hammer price; high e: £1,500). A six-litre imperial of d’Yquem 1994 fetched £1,250 (hammer price; high e: £800).

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Bordeaux 2025 arrives to mixed market

Bordeaux’s latest en primeur season has arrived, entering a market that’s balancing improved buyer sentiment against macroeconomic uncertainty and plentiful supplies.

Bordeaux’s 2025 vintage has garnered an early reputation as a high-quality, low-volume crop, though barrel samples of the wines were still being tasted as Decanter went to press.

The build-up to this year’s releases campaign was dominated by heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and intense scrutiny of the en primeur system, yet also better fine wine market sentiment.

Geraint Carter, of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform, said: ‘There’s a bit more activity around Bordeaux than there was a year ago, and a fair chunk of that is in younger vintages – such as 2019 and 2020 – where prices have [largely] come down and they appear to represent value.’ (See table below)

At Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, the Bordeaux 500 index crept up 0.2% in value in the first quarter of 2026, although it was still down 15.3% over five years.

Sophia Gilmour, Liv-ex market analyst, described the broader market as ‘stable but precarious’.

Despite improved conditions in the past six months, she said: ‘We’ll more than likely bump along the bottom for a while as buyers rebuild their trust in prices and sellers begin to clear the surplus stock.’

Carter said there’s no shortage of young, good-quality Bordeaux. He cited 2019 as a high-quality vintage offering a potential point of comparison for the 2025-vintage campaign.

He suggested that if one assumes that the vintages are of similar quality, 2025 would have to be ‘at a serious discount to current 2019 [vintage] prices’ (see table) to be interesting from an investment perspective.

Release prices above this level may still attract collectors seeking to secure ex-château wines for future drinking pleasure, of course.

Many châteaux have already cut release prices over the past two campaigns, albeit sales for 2024-vintage wines were generally weak.

In the US, ongoing uncertainty regarding current and future tariffs were an additional stumbling block, said Shaun Bishop, CEO of California-based merchant JJ Buckley.

‘If the client doesn’t fully understand the final (delivered) price, then the en primeur release pricing is pretty much moot.’

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

Reanimating en primeur

To the cynic, Bordeaux en primeur 2025 feels like the fifth instalment of a zombie franchise that ran out of ideas in part two: hard to kill and increasingly divorced from reality.

Expectations are understandably muted, with recent campaigns having lurched between the frustrating and the frankly absurd.

And yet, there are still grounds for cautious optimism. Early indications suggest a vintage of genuine quality. In an era of ever-greater precision in vineyard management and cellar technique, it’s a welcome reminder that greatness still rests heavily on nature’s goodwill.

Encouragingly, 2025 also continues a run of smaller vintages which, in isolation, is rarely good news for producers or consumers, but in a market still grappling with excess supply, it may prove helpful.

However, all of this will be squandered if pricing is wrong. So we end with a gentle exhortation to producers: the small improvement in sentiment late last year shouldn’t be mistaken for a full recovery.

Buyer sentiment remains weak and, in this era of omni-crises, only a fool would assume the outlook will surprise to the upside. Today’s buyer is better informed and more selective than ever, and with ample back vintages available and the cost of capital rising, pricing must reflect reality.

Bordeaux isn’t essential, but it can still be irresistible. Price with realism and humility, or risk becoming the sequel nobody asked for.

Auction news and latest releases

Latour 2019 makes its debut

Château Latour 2019 (100pts, Decanter) has been one of several high-profile releases hitting the market for the first time in recent weeks.

Latour 2019 was around £2,790 (6x75cl in bond) in the UK. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said the wine was among the more expensive Latour vintages on the market but below the price of Latour 2016, a fellow 100-point wine released to widespread acclaim last year.

Geraint Carter, of Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform, said demand for Latour 2019 began modestly but that the wine ended up selling ‘pretty well’.

Other Bordeaux releases in recent weeks have included Château d’Yquem 2023, with particularly strong scores.

Liv-ex quoted an ex-negociant price of €255-a-bottle, similar to other recent vintages, with an international release price of £3,120 (12x75cl in bond).

Fine wine diary: What's coming up

Taste Bordeaux 2025

Bordeaux’s en primeur campaign will likely dominate the releases landscape in May. In London, Berry Bros & Rudd will host a tasting of Bordeaux 2025 samples on 12 May. Prospective buyers can also read in-depth analysis and exclusive tasting notes from the vintage online via Decanter.com and Decanter Premium, and look out for a report in the next issue.

One-off Oregon wines

A 10th edition of the Willamette Valley Wine Auction will take place in May, showcasing one-of-a-kind, 2024-vintage wines from this US stronghold for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. An online auction and live event on 13 May will be followed by a trade-only sale on 14 May. For more details, see the auction website.

Christie’s in Asia

Christie’s is set to auction the fifth, and final, instalment of rare wines from the cellar of collector Joseph Lau, in Hong Kong on 22 May. It’s part of a series of sales of different collectibles, ranging from fine art to precious jewels, to mark 40 years of Christie’s auctions in Asia.

Clos Vougeot festival and auction

The 18th edition of the Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot, to be held in June, will feature charity auctions of a range of top Burgundy wines. Sotheby’s said that it will host an online auction from 15 to 30 June, and there will be a live sale and gala dinner on 28 June, the final evening of the festival.

Please note: Release schedules are subject to change.

Decanter’s Market Watch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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Top Super Tuscans – Sassicaia, Tignanello, Solaia, Ornellaia and Masseto – dominate Italian wine trading at Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform (see table), though demand is below a 2022 peak.

‘People continue to like the story [of these wines],’ said Geraint Carter, of Bordeaux Index, noting particular interest in top-rated vintages.

Some prices appeared to have stabilised after rising steeply up to 2022 and falling relatively modestly in the recent market downturn.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said its Italy 100 index dropped 7.2% in value in 24 months to 28 February 2026, but was up 9% over five years.

Tuscany outperformed Piedmont, said Tom Burchfield, head of market intelligence at Liv-ex.

‘Prices for top-end Tuscan wines rose further than Piedmont wines in the upmarket, have been more resilient in the downmarket and early indications are that they might recover more quickly.’

He added, ‘Since August [2025], Tuscan components [of the Italy 100] are up 1.7%, while Piedmont components are up 0.9%.’

No longer overlooked

Carter suggested that further significant price rises for Super Tuscans in the short-term were unlikely, given the ongoing market uncertainty and prior gains. These wines ‘have gone through their transition of being overlooked’, he added.

Burchfield said trading on Italy was ‘quite inconsistent’ in 2026 so far. ‘While there is generally more price stability, we are not seeing buyers really rise up to offers with any haste.’

Tenuta San Guido released Sassicaia 2023 in February. Anna Hickson, brand manager for Tenuta San Guido at UK agent Armit Wines reported high trade interest.

‘Despite the challenging market conditions, Sassicaia continues to be viewed as offering strong value at the premium end of the fine wine market.’

In New York, Lauren McPhate, partner at Tribeca Wine Merchants, described demand for top Italian wines as robust, helped by top vintages, Super Tuscan brand power and also Piedmont.

‘Barolo [and] Barbaresco are always drivers, especially older, harderto-find vintages: 2010, 2016 and bottles reaching back to the 1960s and ’70s are moving with confidence.’

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

Tuscany joins the top table

The transformation of Tuscany’s position in the fine-wine market over the past two decades has been truly impressive.

Once a relative bit-part player in a trade dominated by Bordeaux and, to a lesser extent, Burgundy and Champagne, Tuscany is now a consistent mainstay.

This rise has been driven largely by the region’s aristocrats, whose wines have evolved into luxury brands with broad global demand and strong liquidity – a standing built on critical acclaim, improvements in quality and, crucially, a perception of value relative to Bordeaux.

Performance has matched the narrative. Italian icons such as Sassicaia and Tignanello were leading participants in the bull market of the late 2010s and early 2020s, and have proved resilient during the subsequent correction.

Altogether, this represents a striking repositioning, achieved in no small part as Bordeaux spent much of the decade after 2007 eroding its own competitive advantage.

That said, the dominance of the Super Tuscans is unfortunate given the wealth of authentic quality elsewhere across Tuscany and Italy’s other wine regions, much of which remains criminally under-appreciated.

Recent releases suggest producers are aiming to capture a greater share of the upside.

That is understandable, but the lesson from Bordeaux is clear: push too far, too quickly, and the consumer has a habit of pushing back.

Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges ‘100% sold’

In France, auctioneer iDealwine reported signs of ‘strong early confidence’ in Burgundy’s 2025 vintage after all lots sold in the 65th Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges charity auction on 8 March, raising €1.526m in total.

However, only 80.5 barrels were offered in this year’s sale, versus 100-150 in a typical year, said iDealwine.

This reflected limited yields in 2025 – albeit more generous than in the 2024 vintage.

Fine wine diary: Upcoming releases

Bordeaux 2025 en primeur: Critics and journalists will descend on Bordeaux in mid-April to taste barrel samples of the 2025 vintage. The first en primeur releases normally follow shortly afterwards, and the broader campaign can run across May and June. Stay tuned for analysis on quality and prices.

Judgement of Paris collection: In an ‘almost unheard of’ offering for collectors on 1 May, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art said it will auction a single lot featuring 10 red wines from the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. The lot includes overall champion wine Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars SLV Cabernet Sauvignon 1973, plus Mouton Rothschild 1970.

Auction Napa Valley: Tickets have been made available for this year’s Auction Napa Valley weekend in early June. Three new packages for the traditional ‘Napa Valley Barrel Auction’ include a VIP tier that offers a winemaker dinner on the prior evening, said trade body Napa Valley Vintners.

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It’s a key year for critical reappraisals of Bordeaux 2016 and many top wines recently featured at a ‘10 years on’ tasting hosted by international merchant Bordeaux Index in London.

While scores for individual wines can’t be prejudged (look for a full report in Decanter’s Bordeaux supplement, published with the May issue), 2016 is widely considered a modern benchmark.

And yet price performance has been modest in a challenging market. A few wines have risen since en primeur release in 2017, notably Pichon Comtesse and Les Carmes Haut-Brion, but some were more than 10% below their debut level, said Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform (see table below).

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said the ‘mid-prices’ on 31 out of 45 2016-vintage red wines in its Bordeaux 500 index were below their ‘ex-London’ release.

Its ‘mid-price’ reflects the halfway point between the lowest live offer and highest live bid (in pounds sterling).

Buyers stepping up to the plate

Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter described 2016 as ‘sensibly priced’ but also cheaper than some older five-star vintages, such as 2009, 2005 and 2000.

Prices have risen after bottoming-out in 2025, too, echoing wider positive signals in the market after a three-year downturn.

Liv-ex said: ‘With prices stabilising, there is an argument to be made that now is a time to gently lean into the 2016s.’

It highlighted Cheval Blanc and Haut-Brion as wines that looked to have ‘decisively stabilised’ and appeared to present lower risk.

Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, said the merchant saw more buyers ‘stepping up to the plate’ in general.

While particularly noticeable on top-end Burgundy, he cited recent demand for Pichon Comtesse 2016. ‘I suspect [Bordeaux] 2016s will continue to sell well this year,’ Davis said.

Carter agreed: ‘There’s definitely [buyer] enthusiasm for it.’ With macroeconomic headwinds still buffeting the market, Davis said he didn’t expect prices necessarily to shoot up significantly in the near to medium term.

Still, he said the top wines would likely be more expensive in another 10 years.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

‘Truly life-affirming’ Bordeaux

The 2016 tasting was a salutary reminder that while wine is often viewed as an asset, it’s nothing without an enthusiastic consumer at the end of the chain.

Tasting wines that so clearly sit among the greats, and seeing them met with genuine delight, is a far more visceral, and frankly more useful, metric than any spreadsheet or analytical framework.

It was fascinating to taste a collection of wines that straddled the stylistic shift from the ‘Parker era’ of concentration, power and majesty to the contemporary ‘infusion phase’, in which aromatics, finesse and energy take precedence.

That framing may be slightly contrived, but there’s no denying that the wines’ precision and clarity make them unmissable.

After strong gains since summer 2025, the market position of the top 2016 clarets looks sensible relative to their peers rather than obviously cheap. That said, buyers today are less motivated by relative value alone, and the vintage’s ‘musthave’ status could yet drive prices higher.

Fortunately, 2016 was a generous crop and consumption so far has been limited, so availability shouldn’t be overly constrained.

Financially, those who bought en primeur may be questioning some choices. Those who tasted the wines, however, were certainly not thinking in such terms; they were congratulating themselves on owning something truly life- affirming.

In the long run, we know which sentiment matters most.

Further signs of market recovery

Headline auction house figures have added to signs of a renewal in interest from buyers at the top end of the fine wine market, despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.

Sotheby’s said total wine and spirits sales – auction and private – hit US$127.5m (£93.5m) in 2025, up 12% on 2024.

It’s the fourth-highest total in the department’s history, behind 2023 ($159m), 2022 ($150m) and 2021 ($132m).

‘This success [in 2025] has been driven by a truly international buyer base, strong growth in new collectors, and our depth of expertise in presenting landmark singleowner collections,’ said Nick Pegna, global head of Sotheby’s wine and spirits.

Spirits sales reached $21.5m in 2025. Burgundy delivered the highest-priced wine lots, from the Hospices de Beaune charity sale to a 12-bottle case of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 1990.

The latter sold for HK$3.5m (US$449,890), including buyer’s premium, in Hong Kong in September (high estimate: HK$2.2m).

Auction house Zachys was also upbeat in its Year in Review: ‘Throughout 2025, Zachys has observed continued and steady market recovery following the post-pandemic slump.’

The average hammer price of top lots has steadily increased, it said. Meanwhile, Christie’s earlier reported a ‘positive shift in collector confidence and participation’ in Asia in autumn 2025, spanning wine, handbags, watches and jewellery.

Sales from live auctions during its ‘Hong Kong luxury week’ in November hit HK$987m (US$127.5m), up 27% year-on-year.

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Greater positivity pervaded the secondary market in late 2025, following a prolonged downturn.

Several variables have the potential to influence 2026 (see box, below), but stability was the watchword in January, rather than predictions of a fresh bullrun.

‘I don’t think prices will fall in the next year, but I struggle to see them going up meaningfully,’ said Geraint Carter, of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform.

There may be exceptions, such as ‘pockets of demand’ pushing prices higher on wines with limited availability, he said. Pricing in some segments looked fragile, notably mid-tier Burgundy, he added.

Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at UK merchant Corney & Barrow, said: ‘I think it should be a year in which the market continues to improve. But I certainly don’t see it doing that in a dramatic or explosive sort of way.’

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said that it expected the market to ‘bump along the bottom throughout 2026’.

It described this as an opportunity for new collectors to buy and drink fine wine, which would help with ‘building up sustainable long-term demand’.

Two questions

Carter highlighted Bordeaux wines from the 2009 vintage and before as one particular buying opportunity. ‘Prices look favourable [and] these wines are ready to drink, so they are supported by a consumption market.’

Sophia Gilmour, market analyst at Liv-ex, said: ‘As the possibility of broad market recovery becomes more of a reality, potential buyers should be asking themselves two questions – where have sellers been willing to capitulate, and which wines may provide the highest nominal gains?’

Gilmour added: ‘In terms of capitulation, 2021 Bordeaux [wines] have seen their prices slashed, generally below ex-chȃteau release prices.’

For buyers willing to incur higher risk, Gilmour said legendary producers such as Rayas (Rhône), Jacques Selosse or Salon (Champagne) and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Burgundy) will be of interest.

Prices for these fell sharply in the recent market downturn – after rising rapidly – and there could be more interesting offers, particularly if merchants need to raise capital.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

The shape of 2026: The good, the bad and the uncertain

There are several reasons for cautious optimism in our corner of the wine market.

Some wines now look decisively oversold; Bordeaux 2021 is a case in point, as is Lafite, with price reductions re-engaging long-sidelined buyers.

Absolute value also seems to matter more. Super Seconds from solid vintages trading around £60-£70 will appeal to many, particularly when compared with village Burgundy from unproven producers at similar prices.

And categories such as pre-2009 claret, classic Rhône and Super Tuscans with a little age continue to enjoy consumption-driven support.

It’s also worth remembering that consumers typically moderate rather than disappear.

Asia has clearly been in a moderating phase, but there are signs of a gradual re-emergence of demand. But significant headwinds remain.

Investment overhang from the 2000-2020 bull market is still being worked through, with the most heavily speculated regions enduring the deepest corrections.

Finally, structural challenges loom large. An expanding universe of fine wines increases competition, benefiting drinkers but likely diluting returns.

Add climate change, declining consumption and more fragile luxury narratives, and it’s clear some headwinds will persist.

The year ahead feels finely poised. Opportunities will emerge, but a return to dramatic growth still feels some way off.

Latest Power 100 ranking released

St-Emilion powerhouse Château Cheval Blanc, cult Rhône producer Château Rayas and Super Tuscan standard-bearer Sassicaia have been highlighted in a new ranking of fine wine brands.

Cheval Blanc topped the latest Power 100 ranking by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, with Sassicaia producer Tenuta San Guido in second place.

Based on trading data in the year to 30 September 2025, the ranking offers extra insight into pockets of relative stability in a challenging market.

‘[Cheval Blanc] has not been immune to the downturn of the market,’ said Liv-ex, but a consistent approach to release pricing has helped to build its ‘strong reputation for quality and value’.

Spain’s Vega Sicilia came 16th, after heading the previous Power 100 ranking. While prices remained stable on average, it was particularly affected by US buyer caution in the face of import tariff uncertainty.

Vaunted Châteauneuf-du-Pape producer Rayas was fifth in the new Power 100 ranking, up 49 places on the 2024 edition. Prices rose 2.7% on average, ‘backed by substantial trade’.

The late Emmanuel Reynaud (pictured abvove), owner of Château Rayas in Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rayas wines have long been sought after by in-the-know collectors.

Geraint Carter, of merchant Bordeaux Index and online trading platform LiveTrade, said prices went ‘through the roof’ in the most recent market bull run before dropping sharply – by around 30% – and then rebounding in 2025 to some extent.

In November, inspirational Rayas owner and winemaker Emmanuel Reynaud passed away, prompting widespread tributes, including from Decanter’s Rhône correspondent Matt Walls.

Average Burgundy prices fell by a few percentage points last year, yet there was a slight upturn from June, said international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform.

Having surged prior to 2023, a number of top-tier Burgundies have undergone relatively big price corrections in a subsequent secondary market downturn. Have prices bottomed-out?

Price performance varied between wines in 2025, with rises and falls, said Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter (see table). He highlighted growing positive sentiment around a few blue-chip producers, including Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (DRC), Domaine Armand Rousseau and Domaine Leflaive. They have a track record of trading and some top wines have dropped 25%-40% in price in about three years.

‘Having that market correction is important in making a case for a sale,’ Carter said. Some wines were still double their price 10 years ago, noting ‘longterm holders of these wines are sitting on big paper profits at current levels’.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, reported a rising bid-to-offer ratio for wines in its Burgundy 150 index, which also increased 1.1% in value in November. The index was still down 4.4% year-to-date, but Liv-ex said: ‘At the very top end of the market, price stability does appear to be returning.’

In November, Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, which has offices in the UK and Asia, reported relatively good demand for vaunted names such as Domaines Roumier, Coche-Dury, DRC, Rousseau and Leflaive, as well as opportunities – having recently offered a super-rare, 12-bottle case of Roumier, Bonnes Mares 1995.

On the auction scene, recent results have fostered confidence. ‘There’s still huge global demand for Burgundy,’ said Tim Triptree MW, international director for wines and spirits at Christie’s, noting a well-established secondary market driven by scarcity and thirsty collectors.

Still, there was a feeling among some merchants that patient bidders hold a strong hand. Bordeaux Index’s Carter said that, beyond a small group of blue-chip producers, Burgundy ‘remains a very fragile market’.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The story in Burgundy, much like the broader market, has become one of recovery; however, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that prices remain materially down for the year to date. The modest rebound since the mid-summer lows is real but so far concentrated on a narrow set of wines with proven trading histories and, crucially, dramatic multi-year price corrections.

Outside these areas, liquidity remains worryingly thin. Large segments of the market are effectively un-bid, with offer prices that are frequently optimistic to the point of delusional.

Until pricing adjusts, particularly among mid-tier producers, the market will struggle to find broad-based momentum. A little context is essential when considering Burgundy.

Yes, the market is down more than 30% since 2022, but it has still more than doubled over the past decade. Many long-term holders are sitting on substantial paper profits and, in theory, should be willing future sellers.

Yet, on the other hand, the fact that they haven’t sold during three years of declines suggests that their attachment is strong. More broadly, Burgundy is often portrayed as a home for the passionate aficionado, in contrast to Bordeaux or Champagne, where cynical investors tend to predominate.

This characterisation is being tested more than ever, and the outcome will do much to determine the direction of prices in the months ahead.

Coming up

Taste Burgundy en primeur

Various UK-based merchants have scheduled Burgundy 2024 en primeur tasting events for January 2026, open to collectors who wish to taste the young vintage for themselves. Berry Bros & Rudd, Jeroboams, Corney & Barrow and wine club Honest Grapes were among those listing Burgundy en primeur tastings in London. Decanter’s full Burgundy report will be published in the week commencing Monday 19th January.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2023 release

Not all Burgundy estates follow the same timetable, and the region’s fabled Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tends to release new vintages once bottled. Its class of 2023 is next up and merchant Corney & Barrow, UK agent for DRC, said it planned to offer the wines from early February 2026 onwards.

Brunello di Montalcino 2021

January 2026 marks the official starting point for the first Brunello di Montalcino 2021-vintage releases, though winery schedules will vary. This is a top-rated year for Tuscany more broadly. A full Brunello di Montalcino report by expert Michaela Morris is coming soon to Decanter Premium online.

An ‘incredible auction moment’

Eye-catching prices for historic French-origin wines lit up the festive auction scene in early December, bringing down the gavel on 2025 in style. All lots found buyers when Christie’s auctioned historic wines from the cellars of Burgundy’s prestigious producer-merchant Bouchard Père & Fils in early December.

Total sales hit almost £2.38m, and the star lot was a single bottle of Bouchard Père & Fils, La Tâche 1886. It fetched £325,000, including buyer’s premium, eclipsing a pre-sale high estimate of £19,000. It’s an example of what can happen when bidders set their sights on a particular opportunity.

‘There was a round of applause when the hammer came down,’ said Tim Triptree MW, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department. ‘There was spirited bidding,’ he said, adding provenance, rarity and Bouchard’s high-quality reputation combined to create this ‘incredible auction moment’.

Among other highlights, a bottle of Bouchard Père & Fils, Clos Vougeot 1857 sold for £47,500 (high e: £14,000). Individual bottles of Bonnes Mares 1865 and Romanée-St-Vivant 1861 each sold for £68,750 (high e: £15,000 and £14,000 respectively).

Triptree said results were another encouraging sign for the fine wine market in general. Fellow auction house Sotheby’s also hosted a major sale of Lafite Rothschild wines in Paris, including bottles sourced from the Bordeaux first growth’s cellars.

A bottle of Lafite 1870, a lauded vintage, sold for €100,000 (£87,335), including buyer’s premium (high e: €60,000).

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Market Watch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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In the spring of 2006, the wine world was a very different place; the insatiable demand for Burgundy was barely a twinkle in the milkman’s eye, Bordeaux was the undisputed deity of the wine world, and the entire known wine universe was ruled by one Robert M. Parker Jr.

History

When ‘Bob Parker’ released his first report on the 2005 vintage, titled; ‘Is 2005 the perfect vintage?’, ahead of the much-awaited En Primeur campaign, lovers of fine wine across the globe frantically contacted their bank managers to lay hands on any and everything that came their way.

Of course, the campaign was a roaring success, even with the relatively lofty prices, but there came a twist… when the great man, who had fuelled massive hype and demand through his comments, released his ‘in-bottle’ review, all and sundry were flabbergasted to read that there were only two ‘perfect’ 100 point scores from the hundreds reviewed.

He went on to qualify that ‘the perfect vintage’ referred, not necessarily to the absolute highs, but the exceptional median quality and homogeneity present, left and right, from top to bottom and everywhere in between.

In more recent years we have seen similar comments made about 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2022. As a great château owner once joked: ‘We don’t have bad vintages in Bordeaux. We have good vintages, great vintages and vintage of the century… but we can only use that every five years’.

The question on every Bordeaux lover’s lips is: ‘Where does 2005 sit in the pantheon of ‘vintages of the century?’ that are already so numerous in the first three decades of the new millennium.

Notes and scores for 23 Bordeaux wines from 2005 below

Weather conditions

The growing season was textbook and pleasingly effortless, dry being the predominant word but with some timely rain. Hot of course, but with no heatwaves as in 2003.

The cool nights gave the grapes a little refresh button after a day of basking in the sun, aiding in a gradual and gentle course to perfect phenolic ripeness. This long, slow ripening helped bring great balance to the wines.

Nonetheless, a few wines are showing their inherent ripeness; Château la Conseillante, Chaâteau Pontet-Canet, Château Palmer, Château Giscours to name a few.

As we would possibly expect in a vintage famed for evolving so slowly, there are more than a few wines that remain unresolved and very youthful.

Although some château exhibited the quirks common in warm vintages, many showed a beautiful purity and classicism, on the left bank especially.

Alcohols hover around the 13% mark, a pleasing number for the traditionalists among us, and a clear example of a benchmark vintage that, in the most part, refuses to succumb to anything flabby or excessive.

While tasting these wines 20 years on showed substantial stylistic differences, the homogeneity in terms of quality, seems to ring as true today, as it did for Robert Parker 19 years ago.

This does beg the question… in this benchmark vintage, are the First Growths and peers a significant enough step up, or, would other properties, not so lauded in the 1855 Classification, bring a similar amount of pleasure without the additional price tag?

Price and value

Scouring for prices on WineSearcher reveal the most expensive wine to be Château Cheval Blanc at around £900 a bottle (Margaux next at £859), and the cheapest Château Batailley at £65 (next Gruaud-Larose at £80).

Undoubtedly the First Growths of 2005 are among the very best wines produced this century. However, I would argue in a homogenous vintage like 2005, many others, such as Château Montrose and Château Figeac, hit far above their ‘classification’ and make for a very tempting proposition at a significantly lower price point (around £118 and £175 respectively).

While I would not peddle 2005 to be greater than the likes of 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016, there is no doubt that 2005 Bordeaux is a truly great vintage.

Although some 2005s remain in their gangly unresolved stage of youth, others are showing glimmers, to say the least, of their potential elegance, gravitas and greatness.

See all 23 Bordeaux 2005 wines re-tasted 20 years on

All of the wines were tasted as part of the Berry Bros. & Rudd 2005 Bordeaux 20 years on tasting in London. 

Related articles

• Collector’s Guide: Left Bank Bordeaux
• The year that could have been great – Our expert selects the best 2006 Bordeaux wines
• Decanter Value Index: The best Bordeaux first growth vintages for collectors

Bordeaux’s concentration of long-lived fine wines remains a vinous marvel. Even if Burgundy, Tuscany, Champagne and other regions have diluted its dominance in the past 15 years or so, classic claret remains a fine wine staple in the secondary market worldwide.

There is dynamism, too. Behind the centuries-old walls of famous châteaux, fresh approaches married with greater precision in the vineyard and cellar mean Bordeaux’s top wines have arguably never been so good, so often.

And yet, Bordeaux has experienced a challenging fine wine market in recent years. Demand for en primeur releases has been muted and prices on the secondary market have fallen back – albeit potentially yielding pockets of opportunity for eagle-eyed buyers.

This report focuses on Left Bank reds and draws on previous exclusive reporting for Decanter Premium subscribers, as well as fresh data and analysis.

Click here to download a PDF of this guide

Names to know: A snapshot

1855 and all that

The five-tier hierarchy of predominantly Médoc and Sauternes (and Barsac) estates created at the behest of Napoleon III in 1855 offers a framework for understanding Bordeaux’s Left Bank. Owners and vineyard boundaries have changed over time, and brilliant wines exist beyond the ranking, not least in modern-day Pessac-Léognan (Graves) where only Château Haut-Brion featured in the 1855 Classification.

Still, the 1855 first growths – châteaux Lafite Rothschild, Margaux, Latour, Haut-Brion and Mouton Rothschild (upgraded in 1973) – are the most searched-for Left Bank Bordeaux wines on Wine-Searcher.com. The next 10 estates in Wine-Searcher’s popularity rank are:

• Château d’Yquem (Sauternes, premier cru supérieur)

• Château Lynch-Bages (Pauillac, fifth growth)

• Château Pontet-Canet (Pauillac, fifth growth)

• Château Léoville-Las-Cases (St-Julien, second growth)

• Château Montrose (St-Estèphe, second growth)

• Château Cos d’Estournel (St-Estèphe, second growth)

• Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (Pauillac, second growth)

• Château Palmer (Margaux, third growth)

• Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan, Cru Classé de Graves)

• Château Pichon-Longueville Baron (Pauillac, second growth)

This non-exhaustive list features so-called ‘super seconds’: prominent second growths known to match first growth quality in certain years. Château Montrose and Château Léoville-Las Cases are two examples.

There is another group known as the ‘flying fifths’ – fifth-growth properties that likewise now regularly outperform their supposedly lower classification. Lynch-Bages is one example listed above, but this group also includes Château Pontet-Canet and Château Grand-Puy Lacoste.

This is inevitably the tip of the iceberg. Other popular properties – such as châteaux Léoville-Barton, Rauzan-Ségla, Calon Ségur, Batailley or Beychevelle – belong on any serious collector’s radar.

Don’t forget the whites

There are also superb, cellar-worthy dry whites – Pessac and Graves are particularly well-renowned for these – and a new Médoc Blanc appellation is currently in the works.

In Sauternes and Barsac, noble rot fuels enthralling sweet wines balanced by refreshing acidity. Château d’Yquem is an icon, with Climens, Coutet, Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Suduiraut, Guiraud, Raymond Lafon and Rieussec among other top names.

Many of these estates have also begun producing dry wines as the popularity of their pudding wines (regrettably) continues to wane.

Star vintages on the Left Bank

Headline vintage ratings obviously don’t tell the full story with so many other factors in-play, and each year has its own time-stamped characteristics. Caveats aside, five-star Left Bank vintages in the past 30 years include:

• 2016

• 2010

• 2009

• 2005

• 1996

Other years to know include 2000, plus a trilogy of 1990, 1989 and 1988. Meanwhile, 1982 is a renowned blockbuster. Peaks can be seen in other years, too. The late Steven Spurrier once wrote admiringly of 1985, and there is folklore around Bordeaux’s ‘five’ vintages more broadly.

‘Years ending in five – with the notable exception of 1965 – have always produced top-quality wines,’ reported biodynamic third-growth Château Palmer after re-releasing its 2015-vintage grand vin (97pts) in September 2025.

But some years fly under the radar. Charles Curtis MW recently found plenty of charm in Bordeaux 2006 wines in a review for Decanter Premium – a reminder that so-called ‘off vintages’, or less powerful years, can offer plenty of drinking pleasure.

Bordeaux 2022 hits high notes

Several younger vintages, including 2022, 2020 and 2019, have offered strong peaks. Decanter’s Bordeaux editor, Georgie Hindle, recently re-tasted the class of the 2022 wine in bottle, giving Smith Haut Lafitte, Lafite Rothschild and Les Carmes Haut-Brion perfect 100-point scores.

‘Deep and evocative, this bursts with blackcurrants, milk chocolate and floral perfume,’ said Hindle of Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2022, adding the wine showcases ‘Cabernet’s structure, Merlot’s generosity and cool spiced fruit’.

Left Bank Legends Gallery

These three Decanter Wine Legends would likely be on the wish-list of anyone aspiring to create a cellar of Bordeaux greats. Wine-Searcher.com’s worldwide average retail price in October 2025 is given, but pricing on such old and rare wines can vary according to condition, provenance and, if at auction, the thirst of bidders in the room.

Château Lafite Rothschild 1982

Bordeaux 1982 combined quality with volume, famously earning early praise from the then young critic Robert Parker Jr. ‘A wondrous wine that delivers such joy,’ wrote Hindle, of Lafite 1982, after tasting 45 Bordeaux 1982 wines side-by-side in 2023 for Decanter Premium. Guide price: $3,555 per bottle (ex-tax).

Château Latour 1961

A relatively small harvest, following early-season frost, this was an ‘incredibly concentrated’ vintage at Latour, wrote Decanter’s Stephen Brook for the Wine Legend series. ‘It was one of [leading expert] Michael Broadbent’s rare six-star wines,’ he added. Guide price: $5,557 per bottle (ex-tax).

Château Mouton Rothschild 1945

Mouton 1945 was a magical and highly symbolic vintage. ‘There is clear power on display even at 74 years old,’ wrote Bordeaux expert Jane Anson for Decanter in 2019. Artist Philippe Jullian’s ‘Année de la Victoire’ label marks the end of the Second World War. Guide price: $20,945 per bottle (ex-tax).

Buying the wines

Critics descend on Bordeaux to taste barrel samples of the new vintage in April, with many wines then released ‘en primeur’, on a futures basis, over the following weeks. At its best, en primeur is an opportunity to secure wines direct from source (ex-château) in varying formats, at an advantageous price. However, some wines from recent vintages have become cheaper in the months and years following their release.

Some 2010 vintage wines remain cheaper than they were en primeur, having debuted at high prices just before a China-led market boom went bust in mid-2011. Concerns about the en primeur model are not new. Eyebrows rose as high as the prices when the opulent 2005s, 2009s and then the 2010s hit the market. With both the initial investment and longer-term returns looking increasingly disproportionate, commentators have long been talking about the financial sense of en primeur.

After surveying its London club members for a trends report, fine wine club 67 Pall Mall recently highlighted buyer fatigue with the concept – and not only for Bordeaux wines. It said: ‘Members feel that prices have become inflated to the point where it no longer makes sense to buy wines on release, as mature wines can often be found on the secondary market for a similar price or cheaper.’

Nevertheless, en primeur remains a key fixture in the calendar. And it’s worth noting that each estate has its own market context – such as back-vintage availability. In a bid to regain market attention and good will, top Bordeaux châteaux have also significantly cut en primeur prices in the past two campaigns.

Château Lafite 2024 (96pts) was offered by Bordeaux merchant houses (négociants) at €288 per bottle, and then at £1,713 – 6x75cl IB (in bond) – in the UK, making it the cheapest Lafite grand vin available on the market. It found buyers, according to UK merchants, although overall consumer demand for 2024 vintage en primeur wines remained muted.

Beyond en primeur

Estate release strategies also vary. Château Palmer’s N-10 programme involves a second, grand vin release 10 years after harvest. Château Latour left the en primeur system altogether in 2012. Its 2017 vintage is currently the youngest Latour grand vin on the market.

One can also keep an eye out for ex- château releases via reputable merchants. Offers of pristine stock from the secondary market are another source. Options include trading platforms, such as Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade or Berry Bros & Rudd’s BBX, and major auction houses, which sometimes feature high–profile, single-owner collections.

Buyer Beware (Caveat Emptor):

As ever, tread carefully when buying on the secondary market, particularly if hunting vinous treasures or super-rare ‘unicorn’ wines. Stick to reputable sources, and be especially wary if the price looks too good to be true.

Value for a drinking cellar

Value is a relative term, of course. Lynch-Bages 2024 released at £60 per bottle this en primeur was remarked on as noteworthy by merchants such as Farr Vintners Nonetheless, the scope and scale of Bordeaux makes it an ideal hunting ground for bargains, and wines ready-to-drink or keep cellared away. Less powerful vintages may be approachable sooner, and buying wines with a range of drinking windows makes logical sense.

In a top vintage, the second labels of well-known estates often open up sooner than the grand vin. Following Decanter’s recent Médoc Grand Cru Classé 2016 vintage panel tasting, Robert Mathias MW, said: ‘Second wines are drinking now, for sure, and for another five years, which is impressive, while the grands vins are more muscular and tightly coiled.’

It’s still possible to find great options lower down the price ladder. Beyond the 1855 ranking, the Cru Bourgeois du Médoc classification is one source of quality and value.

Top Bordeaux on the fine wine market

Bordeaux in context

Many top Left Bank wines are produced in relatively large volumes, compared to, say, blue-chip Burgundy or even top wines of the Right Bank, like Petrus. First growths, in particular, traditionally contribute significant liquidity to trading on the secondary market for fine wine.

But Bordeaux today shares the market with many more wines than was previously the case – notably with Burgundy, Champagne and Italy. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, remarks that, in 2010, Bordeaux once constituted 95% of trading by value, but since 2021 has ‘hovered between’ 35-40%.

First-growth average bottle prices

While the fine wine secondary market has a track record of long-term value growth, particularly for top wines from the best vintages, it hasn’t been a straight road and price increases can never be guaranteed.

Wine-Searcher.com data indicates average bottle prices for Bordeaux first growths are broadly flat, or slightly down, versus five years ago in US$ terms, albeit figures will vary by merchant and vintage. Its figures underline Haut-Brion’s status as the lowest-priced first growth, on average. (See table below)

A tough market

A tough macroeconomic backdrop, including elevated interest rates, has dampened buyer demand for luxury collectibles in general, from wine and whiskies to art and diamonds, according to consultancy group Knight Frank’s 2025 Wealth Report. Fine wine prices have drifted downwards on the secondary market since late 2022, after the lockdown-driven upswing peaked.

Data broadly shows that Bordeaux has underperformed other key regions. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade that tracks prices of highly collectible wines, says its Bordeaux 500 index is down 13.5% over the five years to 31 October 2025. Its parent index, the multi-region Liv-ex 1000, dipped 1% over the same period.

Sub-Indices for Italy, Burgundy and Champagne have fallen since 2022 but remained above 2020 levels (See Chart 1). A handful of wines have outperformed within Bordeaux indices, notably Right Bank stars from Pomerol, says Sophia Gilmour from Liv-ex’s market intelligence team.

‘Les Carmes Haut-Brion stands out as the top performer outside of Pomerol,’ Gilmour says, noting it carries a lower price tag than several classified peers.

Generation gap: Old Bordeaux rules?

Geraint Carter, of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform, recently told Decanter magazine’s Market Watch that prices for younger Bordeaux vintages have come under greater pressure, with plentiful supplies of many wines. Older clarets, such as wines from 1990 and 2000, held their value better in the first half of 2025, with some even appreciating, he says.

Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, with offices in London and Asia, highlights consumer demand for older, ready-to-drink wines, citing Pichon Comtesse 2007 or Gruaud Larose 2005 as examples.

‘Prices from that era are still looking really good value,’ he says, adding 2005-vintage wines in general sell well, including first growths. Vintages predating the mid-90s are rarer, and more expensive, but he adds: ‘When we see it, things like Lynch-Bages 1990 and Pichon Baron 1990 always sell well. And we’ve had quite a lot of success with ex-château releases from [this] sort of era.’

In his view, people are currently buying to drink rather than invest.

Opportunities and green shoots

There has been recent trade talk of the market showing signs of greater stability, but there are on-going macroeconomic challenges, from household budget squeezes to US import tariffs. ‘The [Bordeaux] 2021 and (more recently) 2022 vintages have seen their prices fall sharply,’ says Liv-ex’s Sophia Gilmour, adding many 2021s were trading below their ex-château release prices. ‘The need for cash has forced stockholders to bring prices down to meet the market. The upside of this is that prices are now becoming much more realistic.’

Gilmour adds: ‘Excellent back-vintages are also now reaching 2020 or 2015 [era] lows – prices that at those times reinspired [buyer] demand. ‘In short, the opportunities lie where stockholders have been willing to capitulate, and where tried and tested wines are reaching support levels.’

Despite some signs of improvement, it remains a buyer’s market. Bordeaux Index’s Carter says: ‘Quality and value alone don’t guarantee interest – you need both, and a clear reason for buyers to act now rather than sit tight.’

Wealthy buyers still thirsty for rarities

If you’re fortunate enough to own a case of legendary Bordeaux from the past 150 years, it’s possibly not something you’d want to part with. If you did, though, it seems wealthy collectors are poised for opportunities.

Nick Pegna, global head of wine and spirits at Sotheby’s, tells Decanter that the auction house has seen improved metrics in the second half of 2025, from number of bids to sales figures. Top names are leading this, but rarity is a key ingredient. Provenance and condition, too, cannot be underestimated, he notes.

‘We’re finding [that] people are more interested in provenance,’ Pegna says. ‘For example, 19th-century or early 20thcentury bottles aren’t guaranteed to sell well, because people are concerned about how they’ve been looked after.’

In November 2025, and culminating in a live auction in Paris on 1 December, Sotheby’s is offering historic Lafite vintages. These include ex-château bottles that have never left the first-growth’s cellars, plus wines from a Rothschild family member’s private cellar. Among the bottles on offer, an ex-château bottle of Lafite 1870 represents a vaunted pre-phylloxera vintage (estimate: €45,000€60,000), while the sale also features 36 bottles of Lafite from the famed 1945 vintage.

Auction house Zachys recently sold a magnum of Lafite 1870 in New York for $387,500, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: $75,000). It auctioned bottles from the late Jacqueline (de Rothschild) Piatigorsky, all stored in Pauillac since being acquired on release. ‘History was made within the first minutes, when the opening 35 lots set world records,’ it said, adding total sales hit $11m.

One to watch: Bordeaux 2016 hits 10-year mark

A ‘10 Years On’ tasting of top names from the benchmark 2016 vintage will be hosted by Bordeaux Index in London in January. Château Latour 2016 (£3,250 per 6x75cl IB, Bordeaux Index / LiveTrade) sold relatively well after its debut release in March 2025.

‘A case of the right wine, from the right vintage, at the right price,’ says Carter. Decanter’s Georgie Hindle gave the wine 100pts, noting: ‘A blend of 92.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.1% Merlot, [it] exhibits remarkable structure, purity, and longevity.’

Wine investment: Six things to consider

1. Some of the most prominent fine wines on the secondary market have a track record of increasing in value over time, particularly as available supplies diminish, but nothing is guaranteed. The pool of investment-grade wines is also relatively small.

2. Professional storage in bond is considered important. A wine’s condition and provenance can affect value.

3. Wine investment is unregulated. Only buy wine from reputable sources, and check provenance and condition as carefully as possible before buying.

4. Factor in costs, such as for storage, and possible selling fees. Storage is often charged at a fixed annual rate.

5. Some auction houses have previously told Decanter that full cases tend to be more in-demand, although limited-production wines may be released or allocated in smaller quantities – such as three-bottle cases.

6. If unsure, always seek professional advice.

Report by Chris Mercer for Decanter Premium. A freelance journalist and former editor of Decanter.com, Chris has written about the global fine wine market for more than a decade

Click here to join Decanter Premium today and enjoy instant access to this guide and much, much more. Use the code: PREMIUMCOLLECTOR for 30% off an annual subscription

Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

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Data from international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform showed prestige cuvée Champagne prices were mostly down in 2025 so far, albeit Bollinger, La Grande Année 2012 was up 7%, but several wines saw better performance in the third quarter of the year (see table below).

Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter highlighted ‘more of a balance between buyers and sellers’, albeit talk of market recovery is premature.

‘We’ve had good success with vintage Champagnes with 15 to 20-plus years of age, which offer compelling value,’ he added, including Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne 2006, Dom Pérignon, Rosé 2002 and Bollinger, La Grande Année 2008.

Many prestige Champagnes remain more expensive than five years ago, despite falling back since a market bull-run peaked in late 2022. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said its Champagne 50 index was down 4.6% in the first nine months of 2025 and 20.8% over two years, yet still up 16.7% versus September 2020.

‘The Champagne 50, unlike the broader market, remains a way off its 2020 lows,’ said Liv-ex’s September market report. ‘With its volatility decreasing and trade volumes remaining strong as the [broader] market begins to stabilise, a full retracement back to 2020 levels appears increasingly unlikely.’

Nevertheless, consumer interest in new releases has reportedly been patchy. Recent successes include Cristal 2013 in magnum, said Bordeaux Index’s Carter.

Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, reported good demand for Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne 2014.

Lauren McPhate, partner at Tribeca Wine Merchants in New York, said: ‘The frequency of purchase of prestige cuvée Champagne has definitely slowed over the last year.’

Consumers were increasingly tired of some producers’ higher release prices, she said, also noting the recent 15% US import tariff on EU wines. ‘Champagne as a category has not slowed down, however. We’re seeing great turnover in our $50-$100 category, which tends to be heavy on grower Champagne.’

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

2025 has been a challenging year for prestige Champagne, though ultimately one not without encouragement. Trading is down around 10% year-on-year, slightly outperforming the broader fine wine market.

Factor in lower pricing and volumes are marginally higher than last year – a sign that engagement remains healthy despite understandable consumer reticence. The market now feels more balanced between buyers and sellers, with a notable trend of large stockholders selling through to retail buyers worldwide.

Mature vintages offering value and near-term drinkability have attracted deep and consistent attention – think Comtes 2005 & 2006, Dom Pérignon 2004 and Bollinger LGA 2008. Prices, meanwhile, are starting to reflect a mood of cautious optimism. Prestige cuvées have shown a modest uptick after continued declines in the first half of the year.

Yet given the scale of the pullback since the 2022 peaks, this remains a story of consolidation rather than resurgence. The worst may well be behind us, but recovery looks set to be gradual and ‘organic’. The market is steady and well tested, just don’t expect effervescence.

Bidders send venerable Scotch whisky sale to heady heights

Special bottlings of decades-old Scotch whiskies sparked strong bidding among collectors at the latest Distillers One of One charity auction, host Sotheby’s has said. Total sales hit £2.9m as bidders vied for 39 one-off lots in the 10 October auction, held at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh.

‘Bids [were] leaping in increments as much as £140,000 at a time,’ said Sotheby’s. Top lot was a 1.5-litre, spiral-shaped decanter housing The Glenlivet SPIRA 60 Year Old 1965 single malt.

It sold for £650,000, including buyer’s premium, far outpacing a pre-sale high estimate of £110,000. Other highlights included a 1.5L hand-blown decanter of The Glen Grant Eternal 77 Year Old 1948, which fetched £400,000 (high e: £120,000).

Auction proceeds will primarily benefit the Youth Action Fund, which supports disadvantaged young people in Scotland, said Sotheby’s.

Rothschild cellar yields 19th-century gems

A collection of 19th-century Bordeaux wines from a Rothschild family member’s cellar has been a highlight of New York’s autumn auction season. Zachys auction house said that every lot found a buyer after it offered the wine collection of the late Jacqueline (de Rothschild) Piatigorsky.

Total sales hit $11.16m and several lots soared above estimates.

‘The opening 35 lots set world records,’ said Zachys. A magnum of Château Lafite Rothschild’s celebrated 1870 vintage sold for $387,500, including buyer’s premium, eclipsing a pre-sale high estimate of $75,000.

That’s a record auction price for the wine in magnum, said Zachys. Lafite 1870 is regarded as one of the f inest wines of its era, produced just two years after the Rothschild family acquired this Bordeaux first growth estate.

Several magnums of the 1869 vintage also featured; the highest-priced selling for $231,250 (high e: $30,000). A three-bottle lot of Château Haut-Brion 1899 and a six-bottle lot of Château Giscours 1875 each sold for $106,250 (high e: $18,000 and $6,000 respectively).

Henri Jayer, Cros Parantoux 1999 Wines in the collection were acquired on release and had been stored in Pauillac ever since, said Zachys. According to Charles Antin, the global head of wine auctions at Zachys, the sale represented ‘truly a pinnacle of my wine-auction career.’

He added: ‘It was gratifying to see so many of our collector friends and clients respond to what was truly a once-in-alifetime offering of unmatched provenance.’

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Market Watch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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Tuscany is an ongoing bright spot in a weak market, according to international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform, and recent vintages of top Super Tuscans have led trading on this Italian region’s wines in 2025 (see chart below).

While Sassicaia remains a top seller, Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter said recently: ‘Tignanello and Solaia [have] continued their strong upward trend, thanks to a compelling mix of quality, value and pricing stability.’

Shaun Bishop, CEO of California-based merchant JJ Buckley, told Decanter: ‘We’ve seen good demand for great Super Tuscan brands like Sassicaia, Solaia and Tignanello, and prices have been steady versus last year.

However, he said that ‘lesser-known brands, even with high critical acclaim, have seen softer demand’. Italy’s Piedmont has seen softer demand across the board, he added.

US import tariffs, set at 15% on EU wines in August, could be a factor to watch, although it was too soon to properly assess their impact. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, highlighted Tuscany’s relative price stability in a declining market.

The Tuscan portion of its Italy 100 index dipped 1.3% in the first half of 2025, while the Piedmont portion dropped 5.6%. The multi-region Liv-ex 1000 index fell 4.7%. Despite recent decline, Liv-ex’s Italy 100 was up more than 12% over five years.

Rare Masseto collection comes to auction

Auction house Christie’s said it will offer an ‘extremely rare’ private collection of leading Super Tuscan Masseto during a wider, London-based online wine auction to run from 2-16 September.

It includes large-format bottles and features every Masseto vintage from 2020 back to the debut 1986 wine, ‘which is labelled Ornellaia Merlot Toscana Vino da Tavola’.

Noah May, head of wine and spirits at Christie’s for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said it was an exciting opportunity for collectors to explore the wine’s evolution.

He agreed that Tuscany has stayed ‘pretty strong’ on the market and he highlighted the top wines’ relative value, alongside quality in the bottle.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Tuscany has held up well against the broader fine wine market backdrop of an extended period of drifting prices. This is interesting as the price pattern since 2021 was comparable to that of Champagne, which has some logic given the brand-driven nature of both regions and their appeal to new market entrants.

However, Tuscany has proven more resilient, perhaps because of the smaller volumes involved. Interest in the excellent 2021 and 2016 vintages may have helped. Piedmont has seen a more substantial decrease in demand, but this is not unusual, it remaining a region where activity waxes and wanes.

Despite the quality of the wines, it sits towards the periphery of the fine wine trading space. It is difficult to know what would change the context of Piedmont activity – it is not a region that new buyers generally turn to. Lower prices may attract attention, however.

Wine trade gala The Golden Vines branches out to Miami

Exclusive wine and spirits event The Golden Vines will take place in the US for the first time, organisers have said. Miami will host the annual event’s fifth edition from 7-9 November.

A packed schedule includes masterclasses, lunches and gala dinners featuring leading producers, from Château Lafite Rothschild to California’s Harlan Estate. Created by Liquid Icons, a group founded by the late, great Gérard Basset OBE MW MS and friend Alexander A ‘Sasha’ Lushnikov, tickets to The Golden Vines weekend cost $15,000 per person.

A charity auction of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences will be held to support the Gérard Basset Foundation, which focuses on education, training and mentoring. Crurated, an online fine wine members’ platform, also said it will offer bespoke benefits to a select group of Golden Vines clients via a partnership with Liquid Icons.

Champagne launch sparks global interest

A first single-plot cuvée from Champagne Barons de Rothschild has recently debuted at auction in London, and offered collectors a fresh name to watch.

A three-bottle collection of ‘Le Grand Clos 2019’ sold for £16,120, including buyer’s premium, via auction house Bonhams in London in July – signalling the new cuvée’s global launch.

Respectively numbered 0001, 0002 and 0003, the bottles have been signed by three central members of the Rothschild family: Benjamin de Rothschild, Eric de Rothschild, and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild.

Only 1,788 bottles of Le Grand Clos 2019 have been produced, by chef de cave Guillaume Lété. Grapes are sourced from a small ‘clos’ spanning 52 ‘ares’ (0.52 hectares) and acquired by Champagne Barons de Rothschild in 2013.

The plot is located in the premier cru village of Vertus, where the 20-year-old company also recently inaugurated a new winery and cellar building.

‘This historical release inspired global collectors, and we received strong interest from every continent,’ said Amayes Aouli, global head of wine and spirits at Bonhams.

Proceeds from the sale will go to Guy Laliberté’s One Drop Foundation, a charity helping to provide safe drinking water, and the winning bidder is also entitled to a tour of the new Vertus winery, plus lunch or dinner with a Rothschild family member.

Several Champagne houses have released new iterations of top cuvées in recent months, including Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill 2018, and Krug Grande Cuvée 173ème Edition.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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Nothing marks the end of summer like the school’s re-opening and the start of the annual September releases campaign.

This is the second tranche of international releases, or ‘Hors Bordeaux’, following the 50+ wines launched by négociants in March.

SCORE TABLE: All the Place de Bordeaux September releasesScroll down for Georgie’s ‘ultimate autumn case’

It’s no secret that the fine wine market is struggling at the moment, amid a backdrop of lingering US tariffs, a subdued Chinese market, and broader economic headwinds.

However, the 2025 campaign underscores the resilience, perseverance and prestige of La Place delivering a crafted – and increased – number of fine wines from around the world.

The autumn releases also present a joyous and fascinating moment to check in on both new and old vintages from some of the world’s most iconic and reputable estates. And this year’s cohort is a bounty of beautiful wines waiting to be explored.

The campaign, that technically kicked off on 28 August with Domaine de Baronarques, will run through to the end of September (with some extensions into October) and features more than 130 wines from 12 countries including: Italy, Spain, the US, Germany, Chile, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Hungary, South Africa and France.

The calendar of releases takes on a clearer structure than in previous years with the coming days seeing the release of starry names like Opus One (1 September), Masseto today (2 September), Almaviva (3 September), Solaia (4 September), and Penfolds Grange (8 September), alongside Bordeaux gems such as the historic re-releases from Latour (2012) and Palmer (2015).

The releases will be split by region giving each country the limelight – Australia, Spain, Italy, US, France then South America – with a dedicated Riesling week in October like last year.

New and exciting wines

Akin to last year’s flurry of German Rieslings entering La Place, this year is the first time wines from the Loire Valley will be included alongside other French bottlings. It’s an exciting development that seeks to not only present the best of France all in one accessible place but also offer more white wines satisfying current market trends and demand.

The number of wines due to be released may also give way to a potential dedicated ‘Loire week’ within the campaign.

Jean-Quentin Prats, CEO of Joanne Rare Wines which manages more than 100 ‘Hors Bordeaux’ wines, captures this strategy: ‘We want to focus on establishing what we already have however if there was one area we could increase, it was white.’

Indeed there are five new white wines on offer this autumn. ‘[There is an] increase in French whites, and one area is the Loire Valley where you have very high-quality products, old vines on amazing soils and great know-how. And there is a demand in the market for that,’ Prats added.

Alongside the Loire wines including; Domaine Delaporte (three cuvées from Sancerre), Domaine Sébastian Brunet (old-vine Chenin in Vouvray) and Luneau-Papin (biodynamic wine from Muscadet), are new wines from Adega Algueira (Cornamuse Godello from Ribeira Sacra), a sublime Chardonnay from Zuccardi (Gualtallary), the excellent House of Arras Late Disgorged Grand Vintage 2008 (Tasmania), an 18-year-old Riesling from Jim Barry (Clare Valley) and a red and white from Sonoma’s Flowers Winery.

Despite global challenges – declining wine consumption, tariff-driven price hikes, and shifting demand – La Place remains a dynamic stage for producers’ unwavering commitment to excellence and the increase in wines showcases that.

This campaign is a heartening reminder of the resilience of wineries and merchants striving to spotlight world-class wines (at a mixture of price points), in a turbulent market.

My highlights

Australia

There are several superlative wines in the mix this year starting with the 100-point Cloudburst Chardonnay from the 2023 vintage. It was tasted at the end of a 10-year-vertical, which will be coming to Decanter Premium this month, and showcases the very best of what owner and winemaker Will Berliner can achieve with his vineyard-come-garden. A sublime wine.

More white Australia gems come in the form of aged Tasmania sparkling House of Arras 2008 which was utterly delightful, Giaconda’s Chardonnay is another knockout by winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner and Jim Barry’s Florita Riesling 2015 is well worth seeking out.

For the reds, Penfolds Grange is absolutely top class as is Jim Barry’s The Armagh – exceptionally captivating and great quality.

Argentina

I completely fell in love with Sebastian Zuccardi’s Finca Canal Uco stopping just short of 100-points. It’s an amazingly fresh and focussed Malbec from high-altitude vineyards in Paraje Altamira. I’ve met Sebastian a few times in Bordeaux to taste through his ever-expanding range of wines and I adore his approach and sensitivity to the cuvées he creates.

The accolades continue for Argentina with a brilliant Cheval des Andes and fabulous Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard.

Austria

How lucky we are that Gerhard Kracher’s wines are now on the Place de Bordeaux. It’s a little tricky keeping up with the dozen or so Trockenbeerenauslese cuvées he produces (among lots of others) each year of which a selection are chosen to present to La Place.

This year there are five wines – numbered in order of sweetness – the denser a wine, the higher the number. If you haven’t tried these wines before don’t hesitate. They’re all excellent with numbers two, three and five standouts among the impressive range.

Chile

Ever since I visited Chile – and all of the La Place producers bar Vik in 2022 – I’ve been captivated by what’s being produced there.

Seeing the magnificent vineyard vistas and getting to know the viticulture and terroir helped me understand the efforts that are going on in the country to create world-class wines.

Seña this year is absolutely incredible – a must-buy if you can, but Almaviva and Santa Rita are also excellent. I also love the work Sebastian Labbé is doing at Viña Santa Rita wtih Casa Real. Such attention to detail is showcased in the wines.

France

The French contingent is strong and varied this year with everything from Champagne to Burgundy to Bordeaux as well as the Loire Valley providing plenty of enjoyment and value – particularly for two first timers.

Cuvée Eugenie, the Pouilly-Fumé from Domaine Lebrun delights with richness and juiciness while the benchmark producer Domaine Luneau-Papin, with ninth generation Pierre-Marie and daughter-in-law Marie at the helm, have produced a lovely and very drinkable biodynamic Gula Ana 2023 for its first outing on La Place.

There are eight Champagnes being released this month spanning six different vintages giving fizz lovers plenty to get stuck into.

My personal favourite was Philipponnat’s mature Clos des Goisses 2000 which is in its peak drinking window, but Leclerc Briant’s organic Château d’Avize 2015 is also captivating, with amazing acidity.

Clos Lanson’s 2011 is accessible and easy to drink and sits well within the list of back vintages, all tasted together in July (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006). The vertical will be written up in a dedicated article on Decanter Premium later this month.

In Bordeaux, the new vintage of Château Cheval Blanc’s Le Petit Cheval Blanc is as good as it’s ever produced – even more evident after tasting back vintages to 2018 – another tasting that will appear on Decanter this month.

Always anticipated, Château d’Yquem’s off-dry ‘Y’ 2023 is stunning as is Château Rieussec’s 2023 vintage. Bordeaux’s sweet wines might not always get the limelight – and these are just two of the varied options coming from the lauded appellation – but it’s a great reminder of the enjoyment that these wines can bring whether you drink them young or old.

I tasted a 1975 – 50-year-old Rieussec at the estate last week and it was utterly delicious.

I have yet to taste Château Palmer’s 10-year-on release or Château Latour’s 2012.

Château d’Aussieres, the Languedoc estate from Lafite Rothschild, is packed full of flavour but silky and smooth with lots to like. Great drinkability and value.

Germany

I missed Germany entry onto La Place last year as I had just given birth, but there are some stunning wines that deserve greater visibility and appreciation.

Sweet, or even off-dry, wines don’t always have the best reputation, and can often be a hard sell ,but there’s something magical when sweetness and richness meet racy acidity, energy and vibrancy like several do in the list.

Heavyweights Ernst Loosen, Schloss Johannisberg, Steinmetz and Domäne Serrig are all represented this autumn.

I loved Ernie’s Riesling Auslese and Domäne Serrig’s Grosse Lage – both excellent quality and with interesting, historical stories behind them. Seek them out.

Italy

Most of the Italian wines were tasted by both myself and Decanter’s Italy editor James Button who came to Bordeaux for the tasting.

Standouts come in the form of Bibi Graetz’s Testamatta and Colore, both brilliant and worth getting hold of.

Antinori’s Solaia and Masseto’s grand vin deliver once again, both with 98 points and one of my favourite wines ever Allegrini’s Fieramonte is un-put-down-able.

I also tasted the new trio of impressive Caiarossa wines which offer great value as well as a mini-vertical of Gianni Mazzei’s Concerto which was extremely impressive. The new vintage doesn’t quite reach the heights of last year but there’s a wonderful signature to this wine with extreme drinkability.

Spain

Telmo Rodriguez’s Yjar (Rioja) and Matallana from Ribera del Duero are both worth trying to get hold of, as is the new complex and enjoyable wine from Adega Algueira – Cornamuse from Ribeira Sacra.

Despite the challengingly hot conditions, CVNE has produced a concentrated but balanced and finessed Real de Asúa Carromaza 2022.

USA

North American wines make up the bulk of the releases, many from the hot and dry 2022 vintage of which several were covered by Jonathan Cristaldi in his Napa Valley vintage 2022 report.

Highlights for me include the ever-brilliant Dalla Valle Vineyards Maya 2022 and an exceptional Quintessa 2022.

I also loved Luc Morlet’s slightly older 2018 vintage of Coeur de Vallée Cabernet Sauvignon and all three Verité wines from Sonoma.

The final La Place vertical to accompany this report will come in the form of 10 vintages of Inglenook’s Rubicon. I was lucky enough to attend a masterclass with winemaker Philippe Bascaules in July where we tasted vintages back to 2013.

This wine is really hitting its stride with a wonderful energetic quality to the wine despite the tough conditions.

Where value and interest lie

In a market favouring affordability, look to under £40 releases from Spain (Dolio) and southern Italy for everyday luxury as well as some of the German Rieslings which have incredible quality to price ratios. The wines from the Loire and Languedoc also provide excellent value.

Given the nature and prestige of some of these wines, prices can be on the very high side with the most expensive likely to top US$400-500. That said, if money were no object these would be my top 12 picks.

Which wines should you buy? My ultimate case of 12:

Ordered by style and score; sparkling, white, red, sweet.

House of Arras E.J. Carr 2008 (97-points): Vibrant Tasmanian fizz.

Philipponnat, Clos de Goisses LV Extra Brut 2000 (98-points): Mature and mouthwatering.

Cloudburst, Chardonnay 2023 (100-points): Sublime, vibrant, and complex.

Château d’Yquem, Ygrek 2023 (96-points): Fresh, succulent and moreish

Bibi Graetz, Colore 2023 (99-points): Nuanced and spectacular.

Jim Barry, The Armagh Shiraz 2022 (99-points): Bottled happiness.

Seña 2023 (99-points): Incredible Bordeaux-style blend.

Quintessa 2022 (99-points): Classy and energetic.

Zuccardi, Finca Canal Uco 2022 (99-points): Fresh, focused Malbec.

Dalla Valle Vineyards, Maya 2022 (98-points): Seductive and bold.

Kracher, Nummer 3 TBA 2022 (98-points): Exotic and zingy.

Dr Loosen, Riesling Auslese 2019 (98-points): Dense yet invigorating.

History of the releases

Beginning as a niche extension to Bordeaux’s en primeur system, the twice yearly ‘Hors Bordeaux’ releases have grown into a global fine wine powerhouse providing international producers access to premium markets via the region’s efficient distribution network.

Collectors can secure allocations at ex-cellar prices, often with ageing potential that drives secondary market value. These releases, many of which are actually back vintages, will test the market sentiment post a lacklustre Bordeaux 2024 en primeur campaign that failed to ignite serious enthusiasm despite some heavy discounts on 2023 release prices.

Generally a good indicator of enthusiasm is the appeal for Opus on the 1st of the month, this year releasing at a recommended UK onward selling price of £235 (8% down on the 2021 / 6% down on the 2019 according to Wine Lister.

It comes to the market below all recent back vintages. The consulting, data and analytics company said: ‘As one of September’s perennial best sellers, if any release has a chance of seeing demand in this difficult market, it’s Opus One.’

One courtier noted: ‘Everyone is waiting to see what the release prices for Opus and Almaviva will be – if they’re good for the market and people buy it will create a dynamic demand’.

It’s not just about price however, similar to the Bordeaux 2024s. There will be brands who have to decrease and some who will hold firm from strategy or lack of increase over the years. Let’s hope there’s some rebounding for this collection of wines.

Yet to be tasted

• Pym Rae, Mount Veeder, Napa Valley 2021
• Klein Constantia, Vin de Constance, Constantia, 2022
• Quintessa, Illumination, Sonoma County, 2024
• Flowers, Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, 2023
• Château Palmer, Margaux 3éme Grand Cru Classe, 2015
• Château Latour, 1er Grand Cru Classe, Pauillac, 2012

Additional tasting notes for this report were done by Tina Gellie, James Button, Ines Salpico, Jonathan Cristaldi. In some instances there may be two tasting notes.

SCORE TABLE: All the Place de Bordeaux September releases:

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As my career progressed and my wine knowledge increased, my collection has grown in both quantity and quality, and I now have enough wine from around the world to share with friends well into my dotage. Of course, being in the wine industry is a boon, but observing that very few of my female friends have been bitten by the wine bug, I can’t help but wonder why collecting wine is still such a male-dominated arena.

Collector Aileen Daly feels ‘it’s not a wine problem but a society problem – the person who buys the wine is the person who earns the money’ – and that is still, mostly, men. Having studied engineering and forged a career in the City, Daly is comfortable around wine and used to holding her own in male-dominated environments, but admits even she can feel intimidated and in the minority at tastings and dinners. The next generation of wine drinkers sees this gender bias, too; Sophie Wass, 23, tells me the family joke that her father is always handed the wine list when they go out for dinner. ‘He doesn’t drink.’

I brought the subject up at one of our bi-monthly Private Cellar Women in Wine gatherings and was naively surprised to learn that many women still feel that buying wine is a ‘blue job’ – one for the boys; and while women are comfortable managing the household budget, spending on wine for the future isn’t a consideration. Claire Brown, a trained lawyer, told me: ‘Women don’t find the word “collecting” attractive. It’s seen as a very masculine pastime – cars, watches, stamps, wine – and is confused with “investing” in wine to make a profit.’

All of this indicates the trade needs to work much harder to communicate with female buyers – something that consumer-collector Queena Wong agrees with. ‘We need to create friendlier spaces for women to share and enjoy wine and learn in an environment where no question is deemed stupid,’ she says. ‘We need accessible BYOB prices, more opportunities to buy by the glass, to open up wine allocations and to champion female sommeliers.’ This is something that Wong does through her Curious Vines program.

As I write, Maria Boumpa of Michelin two-star Da Terra restaurant has just been voted IWSC UK Sommelier of the Year and there are so many more female role models in the industry, from journalists to winemakers and savvy wine advisors. With few exceptions, though, this isn’t converting to sales of fine wine to women. So how do we break this barrier and see more women build cellars?

With the traditional route to wine collecting being via male business networks, knowledge being passed from father to son, access to fine wine in clubs in St James’s, and so on, we need to change the rhetoric. Female-only events are not always attractive to women with high levels of disposable income, who are often time-poor, prioritising friends and family. But travel is a key entry point – Daly says that ‘it makes every holiday so much more fun when you visit wine regions you have in your collection’.

Try better wines by the glass; share your favourite bottles and discoveries with friends; get to know women in the trade and other female collectors. ‘Find a good BYOB restaurant,’ advises Daly, ‘as wine is so overpriced in restaurants and often not exciting.’ She also recommends buying everyday wine as you need it and only storing smarter cases, given the expense of storage. Buy wines with varying drinking dates and don’t forget about the New World: a future cellar doesn’t have to be made up of the traditional Bordeaux, Burgundy and Barolo.

Buy the best wines you enjoy, have fun building up a cellar, and you will be rewarded with delicious, mature bottles to share in the future.

In my glass this month

I have known Alvaro Palacios for more than 25 years, but it was only last year that I finally made it to Priorat and I was blown away by the sheer beauty of the Catalonian wine region. From my own collection, bought on release, his Finca Dofí 2016 (£64.78 Lay & Wheeler) is bang in the middle of its drinking window, showing beautiful fresh Garnacha fruit, impressive concentration and a long, elegant finish.

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Fine wine prices continued to drift downwards in the six months to 30 June, falling 2.5%-4% across major regions, said international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform.

Bordeaux fared slightly worse than Champagne and Burgundy, but the picture is nuanced. Younger Bordeaux generally saw steeper price declines, reflecting an oversupply of wine, said Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter.

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‘Older vintages held their value better, with some even appreciating.’ (See table below) Weak consumer demand for 2024-vintage en primeur wines added to the pressure on Bordeaux, despite a few successful releases, such as that of Château Lafite Rothschild.

At Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, the multi-region Liv-ex 1000 index has dropped 22% in value in two years.

It was almost back to its June 2020 level, although regional subindices for Champagne, Burgundy and Italy were still up 21.6%, 14.4% and 12.6% respectively over five years.

A complicated picture

Tom Burchfield, head of market intelligence at Liv-ex, said that the market picture was complicated.

He pointed to pockets of price stability, following recent declines, but also said: ‘Current market conditions are largely the result of a severe stock overhang caused by a significant demand:supply imbalance.’

He said uncertainty surrounding US import tariffs and a weaker US dollar have dampened demand among US trade buyers. Bright spots to trading in the first half of 2025 have included several major auctions and also blue-chip Burgundy (see July issue).

Carter at Bordeaux Index reported increased trading in Super Tuscans, notably Tignanello and Solaia. He added that Château Latour 2016 sold well after being released in March: ‘A case of the right wine, from the right vintage, at the right price.’

Miles Davis, market expert at merchant Vinum Fine Wines, reported signs of ‘Asia reawakening a little after a deep sleep’. He said any talk of the wider market downturn slowing or reversing was premature, however.

‘We’re all happier when the market is going up, but it’s too early to call.’

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

With wearying predictability, activity and prices drifted lower again in H1 2025. Young Bordeaux bore the brunt, assailed by a combination of weak demand, excess supply, currency headwinds and a frustratingly misjudged en primeur campaign.

Yet despite 30+ months of falling prices, areas of resilience are in evidence as trade in Super Tuscans, mature Bordeaux and blue-chip Burgundy all held firm – proof that transparent pricing and fair ‘value’ still unlock good demand.

Particularly encouraging have been the hints of recovery in the giant Asian trade, which has been largely absent in the last 18 months or more.

For now, attention turns to sandcastles and sangria, but come September, merchants will return not just relieved to have H1 behind us, but with a sense of optimism that a path clear of the malaise is beginning to emerge.

Floral themed Rare artist bottling

Rare Champagne has launched a very limited-edition set featuring a bottle of Rare Millésime 2014 with a design by artist William Amor and a ‘digital passport’ that offers collectors access to a future release in large format.

Priced at US$1,500, Extra-Ordinary Metamorphosis marks the first time Rare has used a digital passport. Each of the 88 bottles is adorned with a ‘Rosa Peony’ flower designed by Amor and made from repurposed plastic.

The digital passports are linked to the flower and, in 2032, each passport holder will receive a methuselah bottle (six litres) of a Rare rosé Champagne selected by the house’s cellar master, the producer said.

Several high-profile Champagnes have been released in recent weeks, including Bollinger PN TX20, Krug Grande Cuvée 173ème Edition and Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill 2018.

Koch cellar auction bucks the recent trend

A Christie’s auction of US billionaire Bill Koch’s cellar has fetched more than $28m, adding to a sense that buyers remain willing to spend big on highly prized bottles.

All lots found buyers in the New York- based auction, which was split across three days. Christie’s said total sales hit $28.8m (£21.4m), and large-format grand cru Burgundy saw particularly intense bidding.

A 6-litre methuselah bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 1999 fetched $275,000, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: $160,000).

Six magnums of Domaine Georges Roumier, Bonnes Mares 1985 sold for $200,000 (high e: $85,000). From Bordeaux, six magnums of Château Latour 1961 fetched $187,500 (high e: $110,000), and a 6-litre imperial bottle sold for $87,500 (high e: $45,000).

Beyond France, six bottles of Australia’s Penfolds Grange 1971 sold for $10,625 (high e: $7,000). Koch said: ‘I hope these wines that I have spent years collecting and curating will bring joy and great memories to their new owners.’

Separately, US wine auction house Hart Davis Hart (HDH) reported sales of nearly $42.3m in six months to 30 June – a company record for the first half of a calendar year. Julia Murray, chief marketing officer at HDH, cited confidence in the group among consignors and buyers.

‘Simply put, the market has remained vibrant because buyers are always eager to find well-stored wines with excellent provenance from trusted sources,’ she said.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

Related articles

• Wine investment: Top value Burgundy offers value in downbeat market
• Wine investment: Taking the pulse of Bordeaux 2024 en primeur
• Wine investment: Has the market hit bottom?

Subscribe to Premium today for full access to this article and downloadable index cards for each of the first growths

Methodology

This analysis looks at the most recent vintages currently available for each of the five first growths.

For four of them, this covers the year 2014-2024. For Château Latour, which no longer participates in the en primeur system, this covers the older vintages of 2006-2016.

For each there is a graph which compares the prices (in bars) against their score (the gold dot).

The prices are provided by fine wine marketplace Liv-ex, using its ‘Market Price’ which is the ‘best listed price for a wine in the secondary market’.

Each price is also for a full case of 12 standard bottles of wine.

The scores are the most recent for each wine given by one of Decanter’s Bordeaux experts (largely though not exclusively current Bordeaux editor, Georgie Hindle).

Generally speaking, the larger the gap between a price and its score, the more interesting a particular vintage might be to a collector.

There are often times when buyers hone in on famous ‘on’ vintages and miss the fact that some producers out-perform in ‘off’ years (see box below).

This can create striking disparities where wines with the same score can be priced at wildly different levels, usually leaving those from ‘off’ vintages left significantly undervalued and underpriced.

That is the sort of oversight a canny collector can capitalise on to pick up a sought-after wine at a good price. The graphs and analysis below attempts to tease out where such instances seem to exist among recent vintages of the Bordeaux first growths.

This is not an exercise in suggesting or predicting vintages that will rise in value and does not constitute investment advice. Prices are correct as of time of publication but may change over time.

A full index card for each château can be downloaded from the link below each entry.

‘On’ and ‘Off’ vintages in Bordeaux

Referring to the market for Bordeaux wines, commentators occasionally use the term ‘on’ or ‘off’ vintages.

At it’s most basic level, ‘on’ vintages are the best, with high quality wines across the board and positive critical appraisal. As such they tend to be the most desirable vintages and will often attain the highest prices – both at release and over time in the secondary market.

Examples of recent ‘on’ vintages include: 2015, 2016, 2022

Clearly then, ‘off’ vintages are viewed as less-good-to-poor in quality with more mixed reviews. They will be less sought-after and not achieve the same level of demand, remaining (in theory at least) cheaper.

Examples of recent ‘off’ vintages include: 2017, 2021, 2024

Although a handy shorthand, the term lacks lot of nuance as no two ‘on’ or ‘off’ vintages are quite the same and estates can either underperform or outperform the vintage conditions thanks to a variety of factors as well.

Furthermore, it misses out on the sizeable strata of vintages – such as 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023 – which are not quite classifiable as either.

They might have peaks as good as any ‘on’ vintage but also a greater or larger smattering of wines that are not quite as good but certainly not poor. Where do they fit in?

Perhaps we can borrow some fielding terms from cricket to create ‘mid-off’ and ‘mid-on’ categories as well.

The opinion of many critics is that – whatever the general view of a vintage – it is more important to pay attention to the performance of individual château from year to year and not overly-generalise and certainly not dismiss wines from each vintage out-of-hand.

Château Lafite Rothschild

Average case price (12×75): £4,391

Cheapest vintage: 2024 (£3,420)

Vintages of interest: 2024, 2021, 2020

• Very even spread
• Second most-expensive first growth on average
• Most recent vintage is best buy if looking for lowest price
• 2021 is a 97-pt back vintage below £4,000 (12×75)
• 99-pt 2020 is both below the average price and cheaper than lower-rated vintages

Pre-eminent among the first growths, Château Lafite Rothschild is a regular fixture on the secondary market and its scores and prices reflect that in their correlation.

Nonetheless, there are a couple of vintages that catch the eye. As was noted when it was released en primeur this year, the 2024 wine is the cheapest vintage of Lafite currently available.

Rated 96-points by Hindle, its current market price sits comfortably below Lafite’s relatively high average price in this vintage range.

For buyers looking to get a foot in the door to an estate of this calibre, it’s an obvious place to start.

The 97-point 2021 at just below £4,000 per dozen may be another wine to investigate.

But it’s the 99-point 2020 that merits greater scrutiny here. In her in-bottle report on the vintage, Hindle called it ‘an utterly brilliant Lafite’ with ‘a sense of understated charm’.

At £4,200 per case, it’s below the estate’s average price and cheaper than several vintages rated 98-points by Decanter over the years.

Click here to download Lafite Rothschild’s index card

Château Mouton Rothschild

Average case price (12×75): £3,820

Cheapest vintage: 2024 (£2,880)

Vintages of interest: 2024, 2020, 2018

• 2024 again looks good value as the cheapest vintage
• Big surprise is that the 100-pt 2018 and 2020 are cheaper than the 99-pt 2016 and 2022

Another renowned Pauillac first growth with a sizeable and active secondary market.

Like Lafite, the 2024 wine currently represents the cheapest available vintage from this estate and offers value from that standpoint.

With a 96-point score from Hindle it’s also cheaper than the similarly-scored 2021, 2017 and 2014.

The big surprise here is that the 2018 and 2020 both carry 100-points, yet are cheaper than the 99-point 2016 and 2022.

Popular opinion would contend that the 2016 and 2022 are among Bordeaux’s greatest vintages of the last decade – though 2018 and 2020 are both strong ‘mid-on’ vintages themselves.

Might Mouton have excelled in those latter vintages but lagged in price because of the ‘lighthouse effect’ of the other two?

Even if we made all four vintages 99-points, the price disparity remains worth investigating.

Click here to download Mouton Rothschild’s index card

Château Margaux

Average case price (12×75): £4,206

Cheapest vintage: 2021 (£3,060)

Vintages of interest: 2023, 2020

• 99-pt 2020 is significantly undervalued here
• 98-pt 2023 also looks good value against wines with the same score – under £4,000 per dozen
• 96-pt 2021 as the cheapest vintage might be worth a look as a drinking case

Château Margaux’s average price is slightly skewed by the outsize price of its legendary 2015 vintage. At £7,530 per dozen, it’s one of the most expensive single wines among the first growths.

However, it has also fallen in value considerably since it hit a peak of £11,900 (12×75) in 2022.

The immediate standout here is the 2020 vintage. Rated 99-points by Hindle who called it ‘a Margaux for the ages’, it’s available at a discount to four other vintages rated slightly lower at 98-points.

Meanwhile, the 98-point 2023 vintage currently priced at £3,740 per case (12×75) sits at a discount to its similarly-rated counterparts, which are all above £4,000 and above £5,000 for a case of the 2022 – a price gap of 39%.

As with the situation outlined with Mouton above, this may well represent an instance of the wider market favouring renowned vintages rather than taking the performance of estates into account on a vintage-to-vintage basis.

Click here to download Margaux’s index card

Château Haut-Brion

Average case price (12×75): £3,434

Cheapest vintage: 2021 (£2,800)

Vintages of interest: 2023, 2021

• Cheapest of the first growths on average
• 97-pt 2021 is a steal at current price
• 98-pt 2023 likewise – cheaper than 2022 and 2018

Château Haut-Brion has long offered an excellent ‘in’ to the first growths by virtue of being the most affordable on average.

And its line-up here includes the cheapest wine of all – the 97-point 2021 at £2,800 per case (12×75).

Meanwhile, the 97-point 2016 is 50% more expensive!

There is a similar disparity between the 2023 and 2022. Both rated 98-points, the 2023 has a Market Price of £3,000, while the 2022 is 44% more expensive at £4,320.

Furthermore, Hindle said that the 2023 Haut-Brion had the chops to be ‘a potential 100-point wine’ – stay-tuned for next year’s in-bottle report to see if that comes to pass.

Both wines are currently available for below the average price for the last 10 vintages, making them extremely undervalued versus their peers and offering a potential buying opportunity for collectors.

Click here to download Haut-Brion’s index card

Château Latour

Average case price (12×75): £4,918

Cheapest vintage: 2007 (£3,790)

Vintages of interest: 2016, 2011, 2008

• Most expensive first growth on average
• 100-pt 2016 looks very undervalued versus fellow 100 2010 and even 99-pt 2009
• 97-pt 2011 looking enticing at under £4,000 per dozen
• Fairly decent consistent prices for wines around 95-pts

Since withdrawing from the en primeur process, Château Latour has been releasing stock it considers ‘ready-to-drink’ each spring.

The peak prices for its 2009 and 2010 wines – the latter currently priced at over £8,000 per case (12×75) – helps raise its overall average to be the most expensive of all the first growths.

Strip those heavy-hitters out, however, and many of its wines are priced similarly to those of its peers.

The obvious pick here is the 2016 vintage which was released earlier this year. Rated a perfect 100 by Hindle who called it a ‘monumental Latour’, it has a lot of catching up to do to catch the price of the illustrious 2010, which is nearly £3,000 more expensive.

But, at £5,600 (12×75) itself, it represents a fairly sizeable outlay in order to buy in.

Meanwhile, the 97-point 2011 looks like a bit of a sleeper. Rated by Jane Anson in 2021, she noted it was, ‘a delicious wine that stands out from many in the vintage’, with, ‘a ton of personality’.

It’s also considerably less expensive than some better-regarded vintages – a perfect example of the ‘off’ vintage effect.

Finally, among the estate’s core of 95-point wines, its the rather classic and reliable 2008 that stands out as the one of the least-expensive of all.

Click here to download Latour’s index card

Disclaimer: Decanter analysis is published for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK. Prices correct at time of publication.

Related articles

• Château Latour’s ‘monumental’ 2016 vintage
• Bordeaux’s famous ‘5’ vintages
• Bordeaux 2024: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Seven decades after the inaugural 1951 Grange, the 2021 vintage of Penfolds’ renowned multi-region South Australian Shiraz looks set to be one of the greats.

Priced at £600 (AU$1,000 / €700), it was the highlight of the 2025 Collection, presented to critics in London last month by Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago.

With a history as long and rich as Penfolds (it celebrated its 180th birthday last year) and with an ever-increasing number of wines in its international portfolio (close to 40), there’s a high chance of one or more anniversaries coinciding with each vintage.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the new Grange release and 23 other wines in the 2025 Penfolds Collection

Marking milestones

This year, in addition to Grange marking 70 years since the inaugural 1951 vintage, Penfolds’ home vineyard in Adelaide – first planted 181 years ago – sees the 40th anniversary of its Magill Estate Shiraz with the 2023 vintage.

And, not to be outdone, the 2024 Bin A Adelaide Hills Reserve Chardonnay celebrates its 30-year milestone. Next year, Penfolds’ top-tier Chardonnay Yattarna (Bin 144) will likewise clock up its three-decade anniversary.

This follows the February launch of Grange La Chapelle, a partnership between Gago and Caroline Frey, his counterpart at Domaine La Chapelle, in France’s Rhône Valley.

The inaugural 2021 vintage is an equal blend of this latest release of Grange and Syrah from the hill of Hermitage. The 2022 and 2023 vintages are in bottle and the French half of the 2024 is about to be sent back to Australia for blending.

This year’s collection also welcomed a new French Winemaking Trial wine, the 2022 FWT 543. It’s a Gallic take on the quintessential Australian blend, combining Bordeaux Cabernet and Syrah from the south of France.

‘Some of our most revered wines started life as experiments – including Grange,’ Gago reminded critics in London. ‘When we get everything right, all our ducks in a row, hopefully they earn their stripes and upgrade to Bin status.’ (Grange has officially been Bin 95 since 1964.)

And a big part of getting it right for FWT 543, reveals Gago, is ultimately sourcing the Syrah from the northern Rhône. ‘But we crawl before we walk.’

Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, only made in exceptional vintages, is a notable omission from this year’s collection: ‘Coonawarra in 2023 had a bit of a rough patch for Cabernet,’ notes Gago.

Consequently Bin 707, the top-tier multi-region Cabernet, has no Coonawarra fruit, though some did make it into its little brother Bin 407.

Highlights of the 2025 Penfolds Collection

The 2021 vintage is roundly considered exceptional in South Australia (Brian Croser of Tapanappa in the Adelaide Hills, a veteran of 56 vintages, says it’s one of the best of his career), giving fresh, concentrated, ageworthy wines.

So it’s no surprise the new-release Grange is a corker, up there with 2018, 2010 and 1990.

If you are a collector, investor or Aussie icon hunter, you’ll want this: expressive and exotic, supple yet generous, with statuesque tannins. And the hardest thing won’t be the price tag (£600/€700) but how to ignore its siren call from the cellar for the next three decades.

Much of this year’s collection is from the very wet, cold and late 2023 vintage, which challenged growers with disease pressures and low yields.

But Penfolds prides itself on its long-term relationships with grower families (some supplying fruit for more than 100 years), as well as its organoleptic blind tastings to classify parcels by quality and then determine blends.

Grange’s white wine counterpart, Yattarna (£135/€155), sourced from marginal cool-climate regions, is pristine and focused in 2023, with bright fruit and a structure to ensure it ages well over the next 20 years.

‘Baby Grange’ Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz (£70/€80) is a strong buy from 2023, while the Bin 28 South Australian Shiraz (£30/€35) from the 2024 vintage really punches above its weight both in quality and value.

Looking at Penfolds’ international portfolio, the 2022 ‘Wine of the World’ Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon (£60/€70) is exceptional, taking its name from the 14.9% of South Australian fruit that joined the Napa Valley component in its inaugural 2018 vintage.

From Bordeaux, the 2022 FWT 585 Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Petit Verdot (£65/€75) is improving year on year, and Gago says is close to being upgraded to Bin status.

When you can buy them

This year’s Penfolds Collection comprises 24 wines, all of which Decanter has tasted and rated.

St Henri 2022, along with Grange 2021, Yattarna 2023, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 and RWT Bin 798 Barossa Valley Shiraz 2023 will be released on Bordeaux’s La Place on 8 September.

The 19 other wines in the 2025 Penfolds Collection will be released in Australia on 7 August and available globally from 20 September.

Penfolds Collection 2025: Tasting notes and scores of 24 wines

Tina Gellie tasted 19 of the 24 Penfolds Collection 2025 wines in June as well as the 2025 Bin 51 Riesling and 2023 Magill Estate Shiraz in August. David Sly tasted the 2021 Bin 98 Quantum and 2023 CWT Cabernet Sauvignon-Marselan in Adelaide in August and Georgie Hindle tasted the 2022 St Henri Shiraz in Bordeaux in July.

Related articles

• Penfolds Icons masterclass: DFWE London 2024
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• Peter Gago: Decanter Hall of Fame 2021

Spain’s melting pot of historic producers and exciting modern projects offers a wealth of options for fine wine collectors at many price levels, even if trading on the secondary market is a work-in-progress.

From legendary Rioja and Ribera del Duero to mountain Garnacha, Spanish reds are in a rich vein of form quality-wise.

Collectors are taking notice. Spain’s secondary market presence remains minor, but Vega Sicilia topped the Liv-ex Power 100 ranking in December last year.

Many leading Spanish labels also continue to be a source of relative value.

This report focuses mainly on reds, drawing on data and exclusive reporting for Decanter Premium subscribers to deliver an introductory guide to top names, vintages and market performance.

That said, Spain’s bewitching and long-lived Sherry styles, high-end sparkling cuvées and superb white wines are not to be overlooked, as demonstrated by a host of top medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2025.

A downloadable PDF version of the Collector’s Guide: Spain is available here

Key Spanish fine wines to know

Tempranillo in various guises (as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero for example) takes centre-stage for reds, but not exclusively. Garnacha is a driving force behind several small-volume, sought-after bottlings, and a wealth of other varieties play important roles.

Historic Rioja producers, like R. López de Heredia, join Ribera del Duero powerhouses Vega Sicilia and Dominio de Pingus as the most-searched-for Spanish names on Wine-Searcher.

Wines in bold were among those recently named in Decanter’s list of ‘10 Spanish icons to try before you die’ (See also February 2025 magazine issue).

This list can only ever provide a snapshot, yet it still demonstrates Spain’s exciting blend of tradition and dynamism.

Rioja’s DOCa denomination is celebrating its centenary year, and several top producers pre-date this, but many of today’s leading Spanish labels have also emerged on the international stage in the past four decades.

Vega Sicilia dates back to 1864 and extraordinary mature vintages still turn up at auction, but the arrival of the Álvarez family in 1982 took things to the next level. Dominio de Pingus, led by Danish-born winemaker Peter Sisseck, quickly shot to fame after its inaugural 1995 vintage.

Exploring terroir and preserving old-vine heritage have been key themes. Álvaro Palacios helped to rejuvenate Priorat’s wine scene and his L’Ermita, now a Gran Vinya Classificada, debuted with the 1993 vintage. Other pioneers include Clos Mogador, created by René Barbier, and Clos Erasmus.

Comando G in the Gredos region, west of Madrid, has achieved cult status after founders Daniel Landi and Fernando García first launched the flagship ‘Rumbo al Norte’ with the 2010 vintage – a 100% Garnacha sourced from an historic 0.3 hectare plot. It’s the youngest entrant in Decanter’s Spanish wine icons list.

Another entrant, Muga’s Prado Enea Gran Reserva, is a leading Rioja to know.

Other key Spanish names, although far from an exhaustive list, include Muga, Artadi, Roda, Telmo Rodriguez, Benjamín Romeo (Contador), Ramón Bilbao, Torres, LVMH-owned Numanthia, and Xavier Ausàs, the ex-Vega Sicilia technical director who founded his own Ribera del Duero project in 2016.

More projects to discover

Discovery is one of the great joys of wine, and Spain is a treasure trove in this regard. Decanter’s first Rioja report, published earlier this year, named Carlos Sánchez and Sandra Bravo (Sierra de Toloño) among standout producers.

There are developments aplenty, too; witness Rioja’s new single-vineyard classification, introduced in 2017 or the consolidation of its ‘White Revolution’.

Vega Sicilia already has its Toro-based Pintia winery and Rioja venture Macán with Benjamin de Rothschild, but is also building a winery in the Albariño stronghold of Rías Baixas in Galicia.

Decanter’s Spain editor, Ines Salpico, recently explored new-wave Ribera del Duero, noting: ‘An exciting array of new projects is introducing the region to a younger audience seeking fresher, lower-intervention, ready-to-drink wines.’

One example is Bendito Destino, El Olmar 2021 (96pts) from London-based sommelier Terry Kandylis.

‘Garnacha and white varieties [are] co-harvested, co-fermented in concrete and aged for two years in a used French oak barrel,’ said Salpico. ‘It’s a superb, elegant wine, with outstanding detail and purity.’

Top Rioja vintages

Vintage guides often clash with a wine world that defies generalisation.

Caveats aside, some top Rioja wines from exceptional vintages ‘develop great complexity over decades and stay in pristine shape even after a century or more’, said Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW in a Rioja vintage guide for Decanter.

‘Such acclaimed vintages from the 20th century include 1948, 1952, 1955, 1964, 1982, 1994 and 1995.’

Rioja’s DOCa council lists several other years as ‘excellent’, such as 1934.

More recent five-star vintages include 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2010, said Ballesteros Torres, who also gave ‘4+’ ratings to 2012, 2016 and 2019.

All gran reserva wines, and some reservas, should be built for ageing, but not all wineries reference the classification system.

‘Know your producers; names are more relevant than classifications and vintages,’ Ballesteros Torres wrote.

Five Decanter Wine Legends through time

• Torres, Gran Coronas Reserva, Cabernet Sauvignon 1970
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Blanco 1964
• Bodegas Roda, Roda I Reserva 1994
• Vega Sicilia, Unico 1964
• Dominio de Pingus, Pingus 1995

Winery release strategies

Many top Spanish wines are released after several years of maturation, or ‘when ready to drink’. This partly reflects minimum ageing rules in some cases, but producers also run to their own schedules.

Alongside Unico 2015, Vega Sicilia also recently presented its Alión 2021 (95pts, Decanter). Technical director Gonzalo Iturriaga described 2021 as ‘a super vintage’ in general.

Some wines are offered ‘en primeur’ (on a futures basis), such as those of Álvaro Palacios. UK merchant Corney & Barrow told Decanter’s Market Watch recently that it would launch its offer for Dominio de Pingus’ 2024-vintage wines in August 2025.

Some UK merchants also recently launched pre-arrival ‘en primeur’ offers for the already-bottled La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890 2011 (£780 6x75cl in bond, Lay & Wheeler).

La Place de Bordeaux is increasingly a source of international fine wine releases, too, and single-site Rioja wine Yjar, by Telmo Rodriguez, is among a new wave of Spanish entrants.

Aged white Rioja unicorn

Long-aged white Rioja can be a true rarity and a wonder. Marqués de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco was first produced in 1917, and only 13 vintages have been released.

Last release: 1986 vintage (97% Viura, 3% Malvasia) | 99pts (Decanter). Bottled in 2014 after 20 years of ageing in American oak barrels and nearly six years ‘settling’ in concrete tanks.

Source: Capellanía vineyard, Ygay estate, Rioja Alta

Production: 8,125 bottles

Price: £825 (1x75cl ex-vat) via Hedonism | £650 – £1,000 (1x75cl, in bond) via BBX Marketplace, Berry Bros & Rudd.

Hunting value

Value is relative, of course. López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia Reserva, a Decanter Rioja icon, averaged well under $100-a-bottle on Wine-Searcher (See ‘fine wine market’ section below), and even Vega Sicilia’s Unico is generally priced below Bordeaux first growths.

Shopping through a producers’ range can bring rewards. Pingus ‘Psi’ is ‘a brilliant entry-point into old-vine fruit in the region’, said Guy Seddon, head of fine wine buying at Corney & Barrow, in last year’s offer brochure.

A wealth of under-the-radar wines also offer plenty of opportunities for intrepid collectors keen to build a drinking cellar.

Three value Spanish reds under $50*

Rioja

Bodegas Palacios Remondo, Finca La Montesa, Rioja, Oriental 2021

96pts | $19

From the historic family estate of Alvaro Palacios, ‘Very young now, this [Garnacha-dominant wine] will give much pleasure as it matures.’ – Sarah Jane Evans MW.

Ribera del Duero

Magna Vides, Tinto, Ribera del Duero 2022

96pts | $29

Magna Vides was created by Pablo Arranz and Andrea Sanz to preserve their grandparents’ legacy. ‘It is yielding some of Ribera’s most exciting and elegant wines.’ – Ines Salpico.

Bierzo

Luna Beberide, Paixar Dragonte A Serra, Vino de Paraje 2022

97pts | $34

From Mencia vines at 700 – 1,000m altitude, this wine is ‘at once wild and finessed’. Slate soils ‘deliver a steeliness and vibrancy’ for long and elegant ageing. – Beth Willard.

*Global average retail price per 75cl, ex-tax.

Spain on the fine wine market

Average global retail prices for leading Spanish wines have risen in the past five years, suggested data from Wine-Searcher, although prices will vary by vintage, market and merchant.

As in other areas of the wine world, prices can rise over time as supplies diminish. Muga’s Prado Enea 2001 averaged $209 in May 2025, for instance, well above the wine’s $97 average price.

However, Spain remains a relatively minor player on a fine wine secondary market dominated by French juggernauts Bordeaux and Burgundy.

While quality is high, it is a commonly-held trade view that many collectors prefer to keep treasured bottles for their own future pleasure – rather than trade them.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at international merchant Bordeaux Index, said active trading on Spanish wines was generally limited, with Vega Sicilia a rare exception.

Spain accounted for 2.4% of trading by value on Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, in 2024. That is comparable with the Rhône (2.8%), but behind a big five of Bordeaux (36.2%), Burgundy (22.6%), Champagne (11.8%), Tuscany (9.8%) and the US (6.1%).

Vega Sicilia has dominated trading on Spanish wine, in value terms, in 2025 so far at Liv-ex. The five top-traded wines are:

• Vega Sicilia, Alión 2020
• Vega Sicilia, Alión 2019
• Vega Sicilia, Unico 2014
• Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2014
• Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5.° 2019

Liv-ex data also indicated a mixed recent performance on price for several leading Spanish wines.

A tough market

Current fine wine market conditions remain subdued. A boom period up to late 2022 has given way to one of the most challenging phases in recent history.

The Liv-ex 1000 index, which tracks prices of many of the most collectible wines, has dropped around 22% in two years and was nearly back at its mid-2020 level.

It has, nevertheless, more than tripled in the past two decades.

Vega Sicilia: New ground but prices soften

Within a subdued landscape, Vega Sicilia last year became the first Spanish producer to head Liv-ex’s Power 100 ranking of global brands.

‘This is overwhelmingly a story about Unico, and to some extent [multi-vintage] Unico Especial,’ said Liv-ex.

US demand drove trading, although signs of a pull-back in April and May could reflect wider buyer hesitancy in the face of import tariffs, noted Liv-ex’s head of market intelligence, Tom Burchfield.

Unico prices have also dropped after peaking in March 2023 – albeit they have risen significantly over 20 years (See Liv-ex Unico index).

Spain at auction: A rising force?

Online auction house Idealwine sold 3,500 bottles of Spanish wine at auction in 2024, up 83% versus 2023. The top lot was a bottle of Unico 1923, sold to a private buyer in Poland for €2,438, including taxes.

Other highlights included a bottle of Rumbo al Norte 2020 at €813, and a bottle of Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (red) 1934 at €550.

Sotheby’s saw Spanish wine auction sales double last year. Its five best-selling Spanish producers were:

• Vega Sicilia (76% of total Spain auction sales)
• Pingus (8%)
• ‘Vina Sastre’ Pesus (4%)
• Álvaro Palacios (3%)
• Clos Erasmus (2%)

The remaining 7% of Spanish wine sales featured various names, including Marqués de Murrieta, Terroir Al Limit and Artadi.

Nick Pegna, global head of wine and spirits at Sotheby’s, said: ‘Vega Sicilia has always dominated [our Spain sales], because the wines are so sought-after, particularly Unico but also Valbuena.’

He highlighted the availability of decades-old Unico at auction.

‘The time they’ve had in oak means they can age incredibly well,’ he said. ‘They’re generally quite sensibly-priced, but people who want them absolutely love having them.’

Large-format Unico can be a real treat. US auction house Hart Davis Hart sold a six-litre bottle of the 2008 vintage for $5,975 in June 2025 (high estimate: $3,500).

Spain to attract new collectors?

Pegna said current figures must be seen in the context of Sotheby’s focusing on mature wines at auction. ‘You’re almost looking back in time a little bit to what people were collecting 15 years ago.’

He said several factors make Spain well-positioned to attract a new generation of collectors, including relatively accessible pricing and its status as a destination.

‘I think there’s a new generation for whom food and wine tourism is going to be their landing point in this world,’ Pegna said.

Spain excels here, he added. ‘Whether it’s Artadi El Pisón, López de Heredia, Vega [or] Pingus, there will be so many wines that people will come across for the first time at these moments and I think they will stick with them.’

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Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

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• Collector’s Guide: Right Bank Bordeaux
• Collector’s Guide: Left Bank Bordeaux
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International merchant Bordeaux Index said that Burgundy blue-chips constituted a ‘bright spot’ in the first five months of 2025.

It said that overall trading on Burgundy fell in value terms, but the region held up better than the wider market.

It cited renewed interest in top-tier producers, led by trading on Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wines (see chart below).

This analysis builds on previous suggestions (see January 2025 update) that buyers were keen to capitalise on recent price erosion among vaunted wines from Burgundy.

While single bottles of grand cru Burgundy can still command higher prices than whole cases of top Bordeaux, it’s all relative.

Changing dynamics

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the wine trade, said in May that buyers were beginning to find value in Burgundy’s ‘heavy hitters’.

Its Burgundy 150 index dropped 28% in value in the two years to 31 May, having fallen 4.8% in the first five months of 2025, although it was still up 16% over five years.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at Bordeaux Index, said of blue-chip Burgundy: ‘People are thinking: “That looks quite attractive and the prices are unlikely to stay that low for long.”’

He added that some top-rated vintages of red Burgundy were commanding less of a premium than in the prior market upswing. While current market dynamics offer advantages to buyers with the necessary financial clout, many sellers may see no rush to part with bottles.

On the flipside, O’Connell said that there’s ‘quite a significant demand pool’. Plus, he added: ‘If you’ve been a long-term holder of these wines, especially some of the older vintages, you’ve done extremely well with them.’

Liv-ex’s Burgundy 150 index has doubled in value in the past decade. Online auction specialist iDealwine said in its recent 2025 Barometer report that auction prices for Burgundy remained above the levels seen prior to the Covid pandemic, despite a significant correction.

‘Global demand for Burgundy’s fine Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays isn’t faltering and the outlook remains favourable,’ it said.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Burgundy has been the most positive part of the wine market across 2025 so far. Despite the fact that almost all Burgundy prices remain significantly higher than the levels of five years ago, the falling prices across 2023- 2024 have catalysed buying activity.

This is because Burgundy is very much a specific and distinct part of the market, where the supply-demand dynamics that govern all wine pricing are especially acute, for even in a period of falling prices, buyers face the knowledge that pristine top Burgundy is rare when global demand is considered, and therefore that opportunities to buy attractively are not necessarily to be repeated.

This pattern holds true only for the top 10-15 blue chip producers though, and indeed we expect a resumption of positive price performance in that segment.

However, wines in the tiers below – where buyer appetite is overstated in up-markets and resale liquidity is often very poor – look expensive even after a correction, and we are much more pessimistic on this area, which is of course a majority of Burgundy by quantity.

High rollers on good form at Auction Napa Valley 2025

Bidders worldwide have competed for one-off, fine wine and travel experiences at this year’s Auction Napa Valley.

Hosted by Sotheby’s in early June, this year’s auction raised US$6.5m (a sizeable increase on last year’s $4.8m), in aid of Napa Valley Vintners’ youth wellness initiative. Lots were created by some of the area’s biggest names.

An Antinori family and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars lot included trips to both Napa and Tuscany for two couples, as well as wines including a double magnum of the Napa winery’s 2010 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon.

It sold for $550,000 (£406,000). Another lot included a trip for three couples to a luxury villa on the Caribbean island of Mustique with Auction Napa Valley 2025 chairs Michelle and Robin Baggett, plus a visit to their Napa winery Alpha Omega. It sold for $425,000.

Henri Jayer wines dazzle in Hong Kong

A Christie’s auction of wines from collector Joseph Lau in Hong Kong has served as a fresh reminder of the enduring appeal of Henri Jayer Burgundy wines. Several lots of Henri Jayer wines soared above high estimates at the Christie’s auction in late May.

It’s nearly two decades since Jayer passed away, aged 84, but his legacy continues to excite bidders. Among the top-selling lots was a 10-bottle collection of Henri Jayer, Cros Parantoux 1999 (pictured), which sold for an impressive HK$3.25m (£310,000), more than double its high estimate (HK$1.4m).

Six bottles of Cros Parantoux 1993 fetched HK$2.5m (high e: HK$650,000). This second lot came in the original wooden case and was acquired by Lau at a Christie’s sale of ‘the private cellar of Henri Jayer’ in 2012.

Meanwhile, nine bottles of Cros Parantoux 2001, the last vintage overseen by Jayer before retirement, sold for HK$1.375m (high e: HK$1.3m).

Christie’s said all lots found buyers in its ‘Joseph Lau III’ auction, with total sales reaching nearly HK$73m. Almost 70% of lots were sold above their high estimate.

Among other highlights, five magnums of Lafite Rothschild 1982 sold for HK$187,500 (high e: HK$150,000) and a double magnum of Petrus 1982 fetched HK$150,000 (high e: HK$95,000). Christie’s previously held two auctions focused on Lau’s cellar in 2022, and two further sales are planned, it said.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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Bordeaux châteaux have significantly cut en primeur release prices for their 2024 vintage wines, but was it enough to rouse a lethargic market?

Release prices at several leading châteaux were markedly lower than for other recent Bordeaux en primeur campaigns (see chart below).

Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild 2024 (both 96pts, Decanter) were the cheapest iterations of these first growth wines on the market.

While many merchants welcomed the price cuts, amid a particularly challenging market for Bordeaux, initial feedback suggested buyers were in no rush.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at Bordeaux Index, said Lafite sold in good quantities on the day of its release, though the release failed to attract frenzied activity.

In general, he said:‘The discounts have not been at a sufficient level to encourage the majority of potential buyers to participate.’

There are fairly healthy supplies of young Bordeaux around, though each estate has its own context. O’Connell said: ‘We are reminded that 2019 especially, but also 2020, can offer excellent value for high-quality vintages.’

Shaun Bishop, CEO of California-based merchant JJ Buckley, said he had decided not to actively offer a Bordeaux en primeur campaign, for the first time, and cited uncertainty surrounding US import tariffs as the driving factor in that decision.

‘We are recommending that our clients wait until tariff negotiations have concluded and the final price is known.’

From an investment point of view, O’Connell said it’s hard to make a compelling case for the 2024 vintage at current pricing.

Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, also told Decanter: ‘I think it’s hard to make a case for a really solid, long-term investment.’

He and other merchants nevertheless echoed Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent, Georgie Hindle, in asserting that standout wines in the 2024 vintage promise plenty of drinking pleasure around the dinner table in years to come.

William Russell, head of private client sales at UK merchant Armit Wines, said: ‘While the Bordeaux en primeur market remains cautious, the châteaux that position their wines sensibly and at a discount to previous vintages remain attractive, especially to a new generation of buyers who were priced out prior to this release.’

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Bordeaux en primeur for the 2024 vintage was always going to be tricky, with a tough macro backdrop, a now long-sustained drift in market pricing of wines from the region, previous recently released vintages almost all ‘underwater’ vs their initial prices, and the new vintage itself having produced some elegant but ultimately not top-tier wines.

Pricing strategies from the key chateaux have varied, most down from their 2023 release prices, but equally most not by enough to encourage significant buying interest.

Collectors are increasingly, and rationally, reluctant to engage in buying wines where recent – and in this case often superior – vintages are available at or below the new-release prices.

There have been a handful of positively received releases, mainly from first growths Lafite and Mouton. While these didn’t drive outsized interest and buying activity, the releases were perceived as constructive and trying to react to the market backdrop.

Buying has mainly been from collectors rather than those looking to invest in new releases.

Rare wines attract strong bidding…

A 55-year-old case of Petrus and Burgundies from the 1990s have led a Christie’s auction of wines from the cellars of late watch pioneer Jörg G Bucherer.

Christie’s said all 233 lots were sold. It also reported strong demand from younger collectors, with 33% of buyers belonging to the Millennial and Gen Z age groups.

Top lots included a 12-bottle collection of Petrus 1970 in its original wooden case (OWC), which sold for £32,500, including buyer’s premium (pre-sale high estimate: £26,000).

Six magnums of the legendary Château Haut-Brion 1989 fetched £22,500 (high e: £20,000). From Burgundy, 1999-vintage reds from Domaine Leroy led the way.

These included cases (12x75cl, OWC) of: Romanée-St-Vivant 1999, sold for £62,500 (high e: £60,000); Latricières-Chambertin 1999, sold for £43,750 (high e: £38,000); and Clos de Vougeot 1999, sold for £35,000 (high e: £35,000).

In total, the auction fetched £1.2m, said Christie’s, adding proceeds will benefit the Jörg G Bucherer Foundation. Despite an ongoing subdued market climate the Bucherer auction joined previous single-owner sales that have performed relatively strongly.

‘The right kind of collection can still sell very well,’ Edwin Vos, international head of Christie’s wine department, told Decanter.

‘When you get to that level of rarity, with a [collector] name and a story behind it, there are still many people out there who are willing to try to acquire some of those lots.’

…while secondary market loses its fizz

Fine wine prices remain under pressure and US import tariffs may have exacerbated the situation, according to a recent analysis.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said most of its major indices declined in April. Its Champagne 50 regional index performed worst, dropping 2.6%, and the group said tariff uncertainty facing US buyers was a key contributing factor.

Its figures again demonstrated the market’s lethargy as Bordeaux’s en primeur season began. Liv-ex’s Bordeaux 500 index dropped 1.6% in April; it was down 24.3% over two years and nearly 6% over five years.

The Left Bank 200 sub-index offered a sliver of hope: ‘The index’s decline is slowing as it approaches its 2020 lows,’ said Liv-ex. Previous analysis has suggested some parts of the market may be nearing a period of stability (See April 2025 issue).

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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• Wine investment: Bordeaux faces pricing dilemma
• Wine investment: Has the market hit bottom?
• Wine investment: Top Champagnes regain their fizz

In stark contrast to last year’s article damning the majority of the decade milestone vintages throughout the 1960s and ’70s, everyone celebrating a decennial anniversary in 2025 is of far greater fortune… well, almost everyone.

If I were to put down some of my cold, hard sterling on the outcome of 2025 being a successful Bordeaux vintage, history tells me that that’s as safe a bet as I could make in the world of wine.

When we look back at the embarrassment of riches that the median vintage of each decade has given us, the ‘fives’ are almost always a contender for the finest vintage of the era.

Scroll down for notes and scores from Bordeaux’s famous ‘5’ vintages

2015

They say that Bordeaux no longer has good vintages and bad vintages, just easy vintages and difficult ones.

While it would be churlish to suggest that the late Paul Pontallier (pictured) of Château Margaux 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were all ‘difficult vintages’, they were certainly less lauded than the two vintages that preceded them.

The Bordelais would have to wait no longer, as 2015 was deemed to be yet another ‘vintage of the century’.

A decade on, I would suggest that, in the pantheon of legends we’ve already witnessed this century, it sits behind the top-tier trio of 2000, 2010 and 2016 but alongside 2005 and 2009.

The vintage is both generous and homogenous across quality levels and appellations. There is a seamlessness to the best wines and an approachability that you don’t find in some of the longer-term vintages.

The balance here is wonderful and so many of these wines give a huge amount of pleasure now and will do for decades to come.

Château Margaux – 2015 the last vintage under the late, great Paul Pontallier – is the best of the firsts, while on the Right Bank, Château Lafleur is the wine of the vintage.

See the ‘10 years on’ tasting for Châteaux Margaux, Lafleur and La Conseillante as my top 2015 picks.

2005

After the limp response to the vastly inferior 2004 vintage, the Bordelais were more than ready to reap the rewards of the perfect 2005 growing season during the en primeur campaign the following spring.

When influential critic Robert Parker (pictured) posed the question ‘Is 2005 the perfect vintage?’ as the title to his initial report, the phone lines of every wine merchant in London promptly went into meltdown.

Contrary to expectation, when the great man revealed his ‘in-bottle’ scores for the 2005s the following year, only two wines were bestowed with the perfect three-digit score.

What he went on to point out was that, although he didn’t feel that the vintage had the ultimate highs, it was the most homogenous vintage of modern times, where everything excelled, from top to bottom.

Recent tastings have shown he may just have been right. 2005 rarely stands out among its peers of 2000, 2009 and 2010, but there are almost no bad wines.

The definition of a ‘great vintage’? Possibly…

It’s a vintage of generally structured and powerful wines built for the long term and wonderfully successful in all communes for the red wines. There are so many great wines it’s hard to pick favourites – but from the top flight, a recent bottle of Mouton Rothschild was just beginning to show well.

As an addition to the two below, I will stick my neck on the line for the Gruaud Larose, whose reputation in this vintage is mixed.

1995

In remarkably similar fashion to how things would unfold two decades later, the Bordelais were dealt the unfortunate hand of a difficult run of vintages in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994; 1995 came as manna from heaven.

Unlike its successor, 1996, this vintage was equally lauded on both sides of the Gironde. Initially quite structured and ‘square’, it’s unlikely you’ll find many wines here that are charming and ethereal, but now approaching 30, they’ve resolved beautifully.

I have always loved Château Haut-Brion among the first growths, but the really special example was made across the road at La Mission Haut-Brion – a château that I believe, with age, rises to the top in both strong and weak vintages alike.

While I’m not always a huge fan of Château Lafleur in Pomerol, I think the team here really excelled in 1995, along with Château Clinet, where they made one of their finest wines ever.

1985

I sit firmly alongside former Decanter columnist, the late, great Michael Broadbent with regard to 1985.

For me it is the vintage of the decade, surpassing the tannic 1986s, the occasionally foursquare 1989s and even the legendary 1982s; due to their inherent charm and homogeneity across the whole span of estates.

The argument for 1982 over 1985 was always that the ‘highs were higher’, even if that was only true for half a dozen or so wines.

I will not contest that point, but I would argue that both Château Cheval Blanc and Château Margaux 1985 have evolved to a point that they rival many of the legendary wines of the last half-century.

In the first growths, Mouton is fabulous, as is Lafite, but Latour didn’t hit the heights it managed in other years.

From the next rung, in terms of quality, châteaux Léoville Las Cases, Pichon Longueville and Lynch-Bages are all world-beaters, Léoville Barton is the best of their decade by a long stretch, and Gruaud Larose remains an incredible bargain.

If you ever come across Château Haut-Brion Blanc 1985, it might just be the greatest white wine you ever drink… from anywhere.

I could go on, but top to bottom – even a recent magnum of Château Beaumont Haut-Médoc was glorious – these wines are fabulous.

1975

The year that saw the end of the Vietnam war was merely a busted flush in the region’s worst decade of the 20th century.

On release, the vintage was met with optimism after the damp, dank years that preceded it, but ultimately many of the wines simply don’t have the fruit required to balance out the monumental structure.

That’s not to say that the wines are undrinkable, but sadly they’re not as laudable as initially anticipated. Of course, there are exceptions.

Pomerol, in general, fared incredibly well and I would recommend taking a chance on well-stored, lower-end properties as they are often incredibly well priced.

At the top end of the scale, Petrus produced one of its greatest-ever wines. On the other side of the Gironde, Château Haut-Brion made a solid wine, but the aberration was La Mission Haut-Brion (which I suppose now shouldn’t come as a surprise), where a vinous tour de force was crafted.

A foursquare, muscular wine that has all the stuffing, it’s a contender for wine of the decade.

1965

I suppose there always has to be an outlier and, in this series, 1965 is undoubtedly it – unquestionably a contender for worst vintage of the 20th century.

One critic said of a particularly esteemed château, after initially smelling the wine: ‘Only for purely educational purposes did I put this wine in my mouth.’

A recent bottle of Château Poujeaux was, surprisingly, drinkable. Moving on…

1955

Often overshadowed by 1959 and 1961, 1955 is almost the 1985 of its day in that there’s balance and quality here from top to bottom.

At the top end, Mouton Rothschild is a real standout, as is Château Palmer in Margaux, but sadly I’m yet to encounter the legendary 1955 La Mission Haut-Brion, often touted as wine of the vintage.

A recent bottle of Château La Lagune Haut-Médoc showed that you don’t need to break the bank to experience the majesty of the vintage. Buy well-stored bottles with confidence.

1945

It would be impossible to conclude without a few words on what many deem to be the finest vintage ever produced. ‘Année de la Victoire’ is inscribed above a large ‘V’ on the label of the harvest’s most famous wine, Château Mouton Rothschild.

When the vintage was produced, it was as if the vineyards themselves were breathing a sigh of relief and speaking out against the defeated Nazi regime.

It has been many years since I have encountered the legendary ’45 Mouton, but I suspect perfectly stored bottles will still require seven or eight hours of decanting to show why it was adorned with the top spot in Decanter’s ‘Top 100 wines to try before you die’, back in 2004.

More recently, both Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Margaux have been fabulous, even with some ullage (the wine level reduced in the neck or shoulder of the bottle).

If you ever come across a wine from this singular vintage, I urge you to try it. After 80 years, it might not be in mid-season top form, but the quality, history and legend represent everything that makes Bordeaux the greatest wine region in the world.

Bordeaux’s famous ‘5s’

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It was a glorious start to April in Paris. The pleasant zephyr of springtime weather had arrived, blowing away the lingering end-of-winter chill.

What more could one need, therefore, to accompany a stroll down to the 8ème arrondissement for a vertical tasting of Ornellaia?

This famed Super Tuscan had never – until this point – staged a trade and press tasting in Paris.

This is not terribly surprising. Although labels such as Ornellaia invest in marketing in major export regions, for many European producers this has rarely meant anywhere as close as one of their neighbours.

Most Europeans are fiercely proud about their native wines, almost to the complete exclusion of all else; meaning Ornellaia would no more seek to market itself in France than a great Bordeaux château would in Italy.

But things change.

Tuscan terroir, Médoc mentality

Paris, of course, is an international city, with an international clientele. Any luxury brand worth its salt aspires to be seen there.

Visitors, one might imagine, seeking authenticity and to look the part will still favour anything French, but is that still true of the locals?

From the wine lists of the Georges V to a local caviste in the 11ème, non-French wines are (at least somewhat) more in evidence than they ever were before.

The opportunity to gain a toehold in France has presented itself, and maybe the Frescobaldi family sensed the change in the wind.

It helps Ornellaia’s cause that its French connections run deep – especially with Bordeaux.

As with fellow Bolgheri Super Tuscan Sassicaia, it is an unabashed ‘Bordeaux blend’; a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and (in more recent vintages) Petit Verdot, without a hint of anything like Sangiovese to add some Italian seasoning.

What is more, Ornellaia is one of the star non-French wines now sold internationally through La Place de Bordeaux each spring.

And, in France itself, it has a distribution agreement with Maison Louis Roederer – an echo of Ornellaia’s distribution through Roederer subsidiary Maisons, Marques & Domaines in the UK.

Continuing the Bordeaux-ties, its former technical director, Axel Heinz, is now head of winemaking operations at Margaux estate Château Lascombes.

Current technical director, Marco Balsimelli, himself spent 17 years in Bordeaux before returning to Bolgheri. An excellent schooling in working in the Bordeaux style but also, critically, leaving him fluent in French.

A presentation in Italian translated into French might have been tolerated – but one in English?

Perhaps some things will never change.

New and old

The tasting and masterclass was chiefly a presentation of the newest vintage that had just been released – the 2022.

Alongside it were then poured the 2015, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1998, 1993 and 1988, the latter from magnum.

As a vertical it was as classic a demonstration of how a wine of this type ages as one could wish for – with all the vagaries of vintage variation thrown in for good measure.

My favourites were the youngest three. Best of all was the 2005 which was just flying in its twentieth year, the nose full of bouquet garnis, balsamic, dried cranberry and redcurrant, and some still-sweet red fruit on the palate with a tannic underpinning.

The 2015 is still fresh and juicy, with notes of liquorice, just a hint of tertiary characters and plenty of juice left in the tank.

And then there was the 2022, which I think has a bright future ahead of it but, even at this stage, has a beautifully imperious whiff of pencil shavings and gorgeously drinkable flavours of ripe black fruit.

The 1998 and 1988 were both lovely wines too, and even the 1993 still had a little fire in its belly.

The disappointments were the 2003 and 2001. I’ve rarely got on well with any 2003 wines out of Europe – it was too hot and winemaking techniques at the time tend to exacerbate the worst features of such vintages.

With the 2003 I had a quite distinct impression on the nose of a prune in Cognac. To be fair, it tasted a lot fresher than it smelled but I found it simply tertiary with some pressing tannins – it must have been a bruiser in its youth!

The 2001 was, likewise, a little anonymous. It was fine but you won’t gain anything from keeping it much longer.

Large format supremacy

The state of wines in large formats was a reminder of how well wines age in these bottles.

The 1988 was ‘positively blooming’ and ‘vivacious’ I wrote in my notes – but I wonder if it would have been so charming in a standard 75cl.

A surprise 1997 in double magnum served during dinner (one can only hope for more such surprises), was likewise ‘expressive’ and ‘ALIVE!’ – it had been a good dinner I suppose.

The 1998 was gliding along very nicely when served from a 75cl bottle but I think that anyone lucky enough to have it in a magnum would find it particularly toothsome now, probably with a bit more depth of fruit to it.

The Petit Verdot question

The tasting also bridged a subtle change in the blend of Ornellaia over the years – the introduction of Petit Verdot (and increase in proportion of Cabernet Franc).

Petit Verdot – anywhere from 5-10% depending on the vintage – was introduced to the blend from 2003 onwards.

Some rumblings in the room – loudest from one particular senior journalist – seemed to favour the older, pre-Petit Verdot vintages.

In their view, the greater percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon made the wines ‘more classic and harmonious’.

I wasn’t sure I agreed.

After the tasting I asked Balsimelli about this. He noted that it can be tricky to blend Petit Verdot with Cabernet Sauvignon due to the volume and tannins it brings to a blend, especially if they’re a little ‘rustic’ due to lack of ripeness – it’s why it tends to be used sparingly.

Historically at least, this is a problem the variety has had in Bordeaux; and sometimes perceptions die hard.

However, Balsimelli added, those problems are ‘not always the case in Bolgheri’ due to its warmer climate.

Petit Verdot in Tuscany, he added, ‘has some acidity too and brings some extra tension you don’t get with just Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot’.

On the strength of the 2005, 2015 and 2022, I can see what he means.

Smart and sophisticated, with the urbanity of a diplomat from a more gilded age, Ornellaia will undoubtedly mingle effortlessly with the cream of Paris high society.

I wonder how many other non-French wines might seek to present themselves in similar fashion before too long?

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Although the fine wine market has shown long-term value growth, the recent price correction has been relatively deep and prolonged.

International merchant Bordeaux Index said prices for the ‘prime’ Bordeaux vintages of 2000, 2005 and 2009 have ‘stabilised significantly’ in recent weeks, however.

Prices have dropped over 12 months, but 90% of the decline occurred in the first three quarters of this period (see chart below). Matthew O’Connell, CEO of Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform, said he felt prices in general were broadly reaching a bottom.

He noted some good buying interest in blue-chip Burgundy and Champagne. A survey by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, found that ‘most market participants feel that prices are close to bottoming out’.

All major Liv-ex price indices fell in February, however. The Liv-ex 1000 index has fallen more than 25% after peaking in November 2022.

It fell 13% in a Bordeaux-led market downturn after mid-2011, and subsequently saw a period of stagnation.

O’Connell said a more uncertain outlook on possible interest rate cuts in 2025 ‘has slightly tempered our expectations around a near-term recovery in [wine] prices, [but] they can still stabilise for sure,’ he said.

‘Prices are going to have to stabilise before they can go up again.’

Liv-ex said stable pricing could help clear excess stock and attract new consumers. Some auction lots are still captivating bidders.

Christie’s recently sold Comte Georges de Vogüé Burgundies in London. A five-bottle lot of Bonnes Mares 1962 (pictured) fetched £47,500, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £9,000).

Tim Triptree MW, Christie’s international director for wine and spirits, said: ‘These were superlative and historic vintages from de Vogüé from the 1950s and 1960s, which are rarely seen on the market.’

Triptree and Nick Pegna, global head of wines and spirits at Sotheby’s, said they were encouraged by recent results. The Sotheby’s-hosted Premiere Napa Valley auction saw sales of US$3.3m (£2.56m), up 10% on last year.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The price history of the wine market across the last 20 years or so shows a pattern of periodic breakout price changes followed by either flat prices or a material price decline, though it’s always by less than the corresponding price increase, such that in a big-picture context, prices have always increased over time.

This pattern has also held true across 2020-2025, with the breakout price change in 2021- 2022 and a subsequent gradual drift. However, we are now seeing that while on the one hand prices are still higher than in 2020, the extent of the price decline is greater than would be expected from studying the historical trend.

There are multiple factors driving this decline, including the higher interest rates environment and the impact on discretionary spending, though we do ultimately expect the point to correct itself and for prices to stabilise in the market before rising, as various participants re-engage with buying wine.

iDealwine to open new outpost in New York City

Online auction specialist iDealwine has said it will open a New York office in April, after reporting a year-on-year sales increase. Lionel Cuenca, iDealwine’s deputy managing director, said ‘momentum of the American market’ and client interest drove its decision to add a New York base to existing offices in Paris, Bordeaux, Beaune, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Despite a difficult market, iDealwine said combined auction and retail turnover rose 6% in 2024 to €53.2m (£44.7m), excluding tax.

Turnover at its International Wine Auction subsidiary rose 15%, to €39.1m, although average price per bottle sold fell 1.9% to €149.

The highest-priced bottle was Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti 2020, ‘which was bought at auction for €20,375 by an Italian wine enthusiast’, said iDealwine.

Demand for luxury goods down

A challenging period for the fine wine market has partially reflected a slowdown in luxury asset purchases in general, according to the 2025 Wealth Report from global consultancy group Knight Frank.

The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, which tracks 10 major collectibles from wine to cars, watches and art, dropped 3.3% in value in 2024.

Fine wine was one of the worst performers, falling 9.1% over 12 months, although the art sub-index dropped 18.3%. Handbags performed best, up 2.8%. The wine sub-index, compiled by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, was still up 37.4% over 10 years.

Knight Frank’s new report indicates subdued recent demand for luxury collectibles in general.

‘Right now, with equities’ impressive performance, relatively attractive cash yields, and strong traditional safe havens like gold, investors need good reasons to venture into the world of luxury,’ said Knight Frank.

It noted, however, that last year’s wealth report identified ‘joy of ownership’ as a key motivator for investment in collectibles. In the 2025 report, a ‘Next Generation’ survey of 1,788 wealthy 18- to 35-year-olds asked which luxury asset this group would most like to own.

Among respondents, 4.4% said wine, 12.4% said art and 29.8% said high-end property. Yet, Knight Frank said, experiences were key. ‘If our respondents were to receive a substantial windfall, almost half said they would spend the money on experiences rather than material possessions.’

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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• Wine investment: Market malaise hits Bordeaux prices
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St-Estephe was battered by hail and drought in 2022 causing widespread damage in the ‘hail corridor’ running through the appellation as well as stressing the vines during the height of summer.

Scroll down for the top-rated St-Estèphe 2022 in bottle

Low yields as a result gave way to many highly concentrated, fully charged wines which are still a little more firm than in other areas of the region.

There’s plenty of power and grip on show and in the best cases lots of vibrant acidity and freshness too.

In general, once these wines settle, and any remaining oak is integrated, they will provide excellent drinkability as well as ageability.

Top picks

Château Montrose and Château Cos d’Estournel were my top picks, with both bottles upgraded by a point from their En Primeur score.

Montrose particularly is one of the most impressive wines of the vintage with a sumptuous and seductive palate full of heady fruit but with gorgeous lifted acidity as well as mineral terroir markers.

Its second wine Dame de Montrose is also a fabulous wine and one of the best second wines in 2022.

Cos equally shone, presenting the vintage conditions in the weight and texture of the wine but with such elegance and finesse.

Château Lafon-Rochet (the first full vintage with ex-Lafite winemaker Christophe Congé in charge) and Château Le Boscq are both fantastic.

As of 2022, the team at Vignobles Dourthe took ownership of the vines at Le Boscq instead of renting and began the first year of organic conversion due to be completed this year.

Château De Pez impressed showing the continued work happening at this estate as well as being the first wine produced in the new cellar.

It’s a top buy with a muscular structure alongside great energy and focus. The Cru Bourgeois estates of Lilian Ladouys and Le Crock are also well worth seeking out.

All St-Estèphe 2022 in bottle scores

COMING SOON

Tasting notes for all 800 Bordeaux 2022s

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BORDEAUX 2022 IN BOTTLE SCORE TABLE: Top-scoring wines with 93 points or above

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines

Pauillac 2022 | Margaux 2022 | St-Julien 2022 | Pomerol 2022 | Pessac-Léognan & Graves 2022 | St-Emilion 2022 | Cru Bourgeois 2022 | Dry and Sweet whites 2022 | Best value 2022

Top-rated St-Estèphe 2022 in bottle

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Given the size of the Margaux appellation, and its varying terroirs, it’s often hard to generalise on quality, but in 2022 it performed excellently for both classified and non-classified wines.

Scroll down for the top-rated Margaux 2022 in bottle

Hints of opulence

Margaux usually delivers some of the most charming wines on the left bank, with pronounced floral aromatics and silky tannins giving a smooth mouthfeel that set them apart from the more structured and robust tannins found in the wines from neighbouring appellations.

The softer texture comes from the soils which are predominantly gravelly with some sand and clay – depending on how near or far they are from the moderating Gironde estuary.

In 2022, the charm is amplified with plenty of ripe fruit flavours, fleshy tannins and hints of opulence while keeping expressive aromatics. The best managed to deliver this glossy richness but with mouthwatering acidity as well as precise and finessed tannins.

A vintage apart

During the 2022 in-bottle tasting at Château Margaux, CEO Alexis Leven-Mentzelopoulos and winemaker Philippe Bascaules remarked that they thought they might age the wines longer than usual because of this density.

However, the ‘wines were much softer with well integrated tannins’ so they kept the bottling to July as usual.

Bascaules said: ‘2022 is one of the best vintages for sure,’ but, ‘also one that cannot be compared with any other’.

‘You can compare 2018 with 2019 and 2020, but 2022 is set apart because of the concentration and because of the alcohol’, he said. Yet the wines retain low pHs giving incredible freshness alongside a sense of brightness and lift.

‘1961 and 1986 stand out because they were respective firsts to reach a certain level of ripeness and concentration and 2022 is the same,’ he concluded.

Fruit and freshness

For me, châteaux Brane-Cantenac, Rauzan-Ségla and Palmer all delighted, as did Cantenac Brown, Giscours and d’Issan.

In terms of wines to seek out that you may not have had before, I particularly enjoyed Château Le Coteau and the ‘Margaux’ appellation wine from Maison Sichel.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the range of single-terroir wines from the Durfort-Vivens vineyards (certified organic) made by Gonzague Lurton.

Les Plantes, designed to showcase the ‘freshness and fruit’ of the appellation, really shone with vibrancy and punch. The Durfort grand vin was also exceptional, and although a bit shy now feels well made.

With the exception of a few wines, you don’t have to wait too long to tuck into these wines and although many will age well, there’s lots of enjoyment to be found in their youth.

All Margaux 2022 in bottle scores

COMING SOON

Tasting notes for all 800 Bordeaux 2022s

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BORDEAUX 2022 IN BOTTLE SCORE TABLE: Top-scoring wines with 93 points or above

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines

Pauillac 2022 | St-Estèphe 2022 | St-Julien 2022 | Pomerol 2022 | Pessac-Léognan & Graves 2022 | St-Emilion 2022 | Cru Bourgeois 2022 | Dry and Sweet whites 2022 | Best value 2022

Top-rated Margaux 2022 in bottle

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The 2022 vintage presented vines and winemakers with untold challenges of heat and drought, but having re-tasted the Bordeaux 2022s now in bottle, several wines stood out for their beauty, precision, structure and pure deliciousness.

In case you need a re-cap of the vintage conditions and weather related difficulties in 2022, you can find them in my En Primeur vintage analysis and first thoughts article and more recently a summary of my findings and thoughts now that the wines have been aged and bottled.

But I thought it was worth highlighting six wines, all of which surpassed the expectations of the vintage and delivered elegance, structure, purity, balance – and ultimately delighted in their own way.

Bordeaux 2022: Wines from a superb vintage revisited in bottle

They’re wines where excellent viticultural efforts were joined by precise sorting, well-judged vinifications with soft extractions, and ageing with optimal oxygen and wood exchange.

The wines are not all similar in style – it would be boring if they were – but each wine manages to convey the vintage’s power and concentration while still maintaining not only a sense of place, which I think is extremely important, but also excellent drinkability.

That’s not to say these wines won’t change from here on out – they will mature and evolve, as all fine wines do – but as young wines they are incredibly impressive.

Of the six 2022s that I’ve upgraded to 100 now they are in bottle, I gave four of them 98 points during En Primeur (my highest score that campaign) and two 97 points.

There are three wines from the Left Bank and three from the Right Bank, showing that both Cabernet and Merlot performed well when handled correctly in 2022.

There are also a number of exceptional wines now in bottle that I’ve upgraded to 99 points: Lafleur, Léoville-Las Cases, Montrose, Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Troplong Mondot.

Below I’ve listed my six 100-point wines from 2022, explaining why they’re great, or why I love them, as well as my official tasting notes.

Château Angélus

En Primeur score: 97 points

A fabulous Angélus which really expresses the best parts of the vintage, with incredible freshness, energy and precision.

It’s a culmination of all the work the estate has been doing over the past few years, not only with organic viticulture but also with cool macerations and fermentations and ageing, especially using foudre.

Tasting note: A vintage of precision and aromatic purity, this is one of the finest Angélus wines ever made. A blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the nose is heady and complex, filled with dark chocolate, cherries, blackcurrants, violets and rose.

On the palate, it’s silky, scintillating and fresh, with a crystalline clarity and balance that feels almost effortless. Chalky yet creamy tannins add depth, while flashes of heat and liquorice spice on the finish bring structure and length.

Juicy, deep and incredibly moreish, this dances across the palate with finesse and vibrancy. A wine of energy, persistence, and sheer sophistication. 100% new oak (50% Cabernet Franc in foudre). 3.7 pH. 75 IPT.

Château Figeac

En Primeur score: 98 points

The vintage that saw Figeac upgraded to St-Emilion Grand Cru Classé A, this is a stunning wine from winemaker Frédéric Faye that showcases the warm vintage but with a quintessentially classic style.

The team conducted the harvest in several stages, picking grapes block by block and used its state of the art winery to great effect to deliver a fabulous 2022.

Tasting note: This wowed during Primeurs and has maintained its promise now in bottle. Gloriously alive with a beautifully expressive nose – dark fruit, liquorice and floral scents.

The energy on the palate is incredible: this pulses with life, given the high acidity and juicy red berry fruit, but it also has a touch of creaminess alongside softly fleshy tannins that give weight and structure.

There’s power and concentration, almost hidden beneath the cooling freshness and charming texture. Effortless winemaking on show, taking the best of the vintage’s ripeness and delivering a seriously sophisticated, endlessly moreish expression. I love it! A perfect wine.

Château La Conseillante

En Primeur score: 98 points

La Conseillante continues a great run of vintages under the helm of winemaker Marielle Cazeau. This stands out as a beacon of excellence with such juiciness and mass appeal.

Fast becoming one of the best and most consistent Pomerol estates, I love the 2022 for its ease and confidence but also a sense of lift and happiness you get from drinking it.

Tasting note: The best La Conseillante I’ve ever tasted. Intensely fragrant on the nose with blackcurrants, cherries, roses and violets. Juicy, bright and alive. The acidity is the star, lifting the expression from the start.

Unlike many Pomerols that lean dark and tense, this is relaxed and smooth, with silky tannins supporting summer berry fruit and a finish of cool blueberries, liquorice, crushed stones, slate and minty cola.

All the elements combine to captivate: joyful, vibrant and so drinkable, yet built to age. Effortless winemaking from Marielle Cazeau.

Château Lafite Rothschild

En Primeur score: 98 points

Lafite always seems to deliver a grand vin that defies expectations no matter the conditions. This is one of the few wines that, to me, really doesn’t scream 2022.

It’s bright and forward with lovely integration of tannins and a gentle aspect which is really captivating. Nothing is over the top, such is their minimal interventionist style.

Organic viticulture (a portion also farmed biodynamically), double sorting, gentle extractions and lightly-toasted barrels all contribute to this sensational wine.

Tasting note: Deep, dark and restrained, offering cool black fruit with hints of cocoa and sea spray minerality. Poised and perfumed, it glides across the palate with Lafite’s signature elegance.

Tannins gently frame the red fruit, achieving seamless balance. Subtle yet commanding, with layers of refinement, depth and completeness, and a minty, stony, crystalline purity. A masterpiece of understatement and precision. I love this wine!

94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. Organic. 18% press wine.

Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

En Primeur score: 98 points

In warm or hot vintages, winemaker Guillaume Pouthier particularly excels using cover crops to manage hydric stress, whole-bunch fermentations to reduce alcohol, and reductive ageing to maintain energy and focus.

This is another exceptional example of his winemaking, which reinforces the Cabernet Franc-driven estate signature with such complexity and control. It’s a very modern wine with precision and focus.

Tasting note: Deep and brooding, this wine is beautifully floral with violets, irises and peonies alongside ripe black cherries, liquorice and dark chocolate. Concentrated yet bursting with energy, it flows effortlessly.

Vibrant red fruits – strawberry, cherry, raspberry – sit atop a mineral backbone of saline, wet stones. Crisp yet powdery tannins and bright acidity give incredible tension.

Despite its depth, it feels almost weightless, so drinkable yet built to age. Pure, pristine and vibrant, with no trace of heat – just balance and finesse. A true expression of place. A sure-fire hit. 70% whole bunch fermented.

Two years ageing, 80% new oak, 10% big 20hl vats, 10% amphora. 3.55 pH.

Château Smith Haut Lafitte

En Primeur score: 97 points

In addition to its organic practices (certified in 2019) Smith Haut Lafitte uses a number of tools both in the vineyard and winery to craft wonderful wines, including cover crops and extended cool macerations as well as excellent use of oak.

I love the 2022 for delivering a bold style – almost the opposite of Lafite, if we were to compare them side by side – but which has the most wonderful texture and lovely terroir markers.

Tasting note: Deep and evocative on the nose, bursting with blackcurrants, milk chocolate and a touch of Black Forest gateau wrapped in a sweet, purple floral perfume. The palate is instantly captivating, both silky-smooth and luxuriously thick – like padded silk – cushioned yet structured.

Tannins seamlessly support a vibrant mix of red and black berries – redcurrant, cherry, blackcurrant – all interwoven with precision. Broad and powerful, yet it glides effortlessly, with Cabernet’s structure, Merlot’s generosity and a dash of spiced fruit.

Underlying minerality and flint-like nuance add complexity. A masterclass in power and precision, perfectly balanced and unmistakably Smith.

COMING SOON

Tasting notes for all 800 Bordeaux 2022s

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BORDEAUX 2022 IN BOTTLE SCORE TABLE: Top-scoring wines with 93 points or above

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines

Pauillac 2022 | St-Estèphe 2022 | Margaux 2022 | St-Julien 2022 | Pomerol 2022 | Pessac-Léognan & Graves 2022 | St-Emilion 2022 | Cru Bourgeois 2022 | Dry and Sweet whites 2022

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Prestige Champagne has lost some market traction, but top brands are still considered to have room for growth over the longer term. Global Champagne shipments fell 9.2% in 2024, to 271.4m bottles.

‘Champagne is a barometer of consumer mood,’ said Maxime Toubart, co-president of the Comité Champagne trade body, citing conflict, plus economic and political uncertainty. Top prestige-cuvée Champagnes aren’t wholly immune from macroeconomic factors.

Prices have clearly fallen since late 2022, but they nevertheless remain higher than five years ago, according to data from international merchant Bordeaux Index (see graph below).

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform, said top-tier Champagnes, such as Cristal, Krug and Dom Pérignon, have changed their market context in the past decade, partly via an expanded pool of buyers.

He said the current market needed a catalyst for renewed growth, but added: ‘I do think once prices start going up [again], people will think, “there’s quite a long way these can go up and therefore I should be buying these now”.’

Conditions remain challenging currently. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said a bearish trend on its Cristal index ‘has moved firmly into the medium term, but the long term upward trendline remains intact’.

Liv-ex’s Champagne 50 index dropped 25.2% in two years to 31 January, yet was still up 29.4% over five years. LiveTrade’s O’Connell said collectors seeking opportunities could consider middle-aged vintages from 2002 to 2008, which are likely to become more scarce as people begin to pop corks.

Bordeaux Index data showed how Cristal and Dom Pérignon 2002 rose to November 2022 price peaks and fell back (see table, below). Miles Davis, market expert at merchant Vinum Fine Wines, said Champagne has developed a more solid secondary market in the past 10 years.

While current conditions were difficult, trading was still taking place. ‘[For example,] we had quite a big parcel of Dom Pérignon 1996 that sold very well, but it was well priced.’

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The Champagne market was characterised across the second half of 2023, and 2024, by steadily falling prices, following a preceding 18-24 month period in which every prestige Champagne saw a very significant change in price, almost doubling in many cases.

We are left with a situation where there is almost no Champagne that is cheaper now than in 2020 but, equally, pricing sentiment is finely balanced.

Given a significant rise in discretionary spending and global penetration of luxury assets, it was unsurprising that Champagne was a key beneficiary in 2021-2022 – ultimately we anticipate there being much future upside potential for top wines across grande marques and grower Champagnes over the medium term.

Recent release prices have not been helpful in ensuring maintenance of demand in this trickier market environment, but this may rebalance itself over the coming 12-18 months. Where we see the most value is in semi-mature vintages such as 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, where the pricing curve has flattened.

These wines are ready or almost ready to drink, are very strong vintages and are in meaningfully lower supply than for recent vintages; as prices resume an upwards trajectory, these should see the most upside.

Record takings at US charity wine auction

This year’s Naples Winter Wine Festival charity auction in Florida has generated a record total of $34m (£27m), according to organisers. Wealthy attendees competed for luxurious experiences spanning fine wine, gastronomy and travel at the event, held at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón hotel at the end of January.

Top-selling lots included ‘Meet Me on the Right Bank’, including a five-night stay at St-Emilion’s Château Troplong Mondot for five couples, and also featuring dinner Michelin one-star Les Belles Perdrix. It sold for $800,000.

An eight-night stay for two couples at various Antinori family properties, from Villa Tignanello in Tuscany to the Umbria estate Castello della Sala, sold for $750,000. Guests will enjoy rare magnums and jeroboams of Antinori wines.

Organised by the Naples Children & Education Foundation, auction proceeds go to non-profit organisations supporting underprivileged children in the local area.

Rare Napa gems in demand

Historic Napa Valley wines have put in eye-catching performances at recent US-based auctions, suggesting bidders continue to cherish rarity amid a subdued general market.

Zachys sold a magnum of Heitz Cellar’s Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1974 for $11,250 (£9,035), including buyer’s premium, at its ‘Collection of a Lifelong Enthusiast: The Final Installment’ in New York in late January.

Its pre-sale high estimate was $7,500. Featured in Decanter’s ‘Wine legend’ series back in 2017, this wine helped to put California on the modern fine wine world map. Production in the 1974 vintage included 1,200 magnums, said Zachys.

Charles Antin, Zachys’ global head of auction sales, said between one and five magnums of the wine are sold globally each year – making them extremely rare.

Meanwhile, Sotheby’s sold a single bottle of Screaming Eagle’s debut 1992-vintage Cabernet Sauvignon for $21,250, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: $12,000), at ‘The Epicurean’s Atlas: Around the Globe Part II’. Six bottles of Napa Valley’s Harlan Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 also sold for $12,500 (high e: $11,000).

While trends cannot necessarily be discerned from individual lots, results indicate ongoing strong collector interest in rare Napa Valley gems. Zachys’ Year in Review for 2024 said Bordeaux, Burgundy and California accounted for nearly 80% of sales by value.

Burgundy dominated its 10 top lots sold in 2024, however; led by a 12-bottle collection of Henri Jayer, Cros Parantoux Réserve, Vosne-Romanée 1996, which fetched $137,500, including buyer’s premium.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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In addition to the trio of new Château Latour wines being released on 17 March, as covered on Premium last month, this year’s line-up features new vintages of established names including Promontory, Ornellaia, Borgogno, Dal Forno, Ao Yun and I Sodi di S. Niccolò as well as a few newcomers.

The March campaign is always smaller than its September sibling. But, while the trend in recent years had been toward expansion, the turbulent global trading conditions have led to a more selective approach, ensuring that wines with strong track records take centre stage.

The strategy is one that focuses on prioritising familiar names and formidable brands that have the likelihood of guaranteed onward sales.

Notes and scores for the March 2025 releases from La Place de Bordeaux below

Newcomers

That said, among the most exciting additions this year is Domaine Alexandre Bonnet. This is a grower Champagne from the most southerly part of the region in Les Riceys in the Côtes des Bar, and part of the Lanson-BCC Group.

The La Forêt, Brut Nature, Blanc de Noirs release is made from a selection of Pinot Noir planted in 1973 and spent 39 months on its lees, disgorging without dosage or sulphur.

The Champagne, which also has special eco-packaging including a water-saving cotton label and recycled silk paper, adds further depth to the sparkling wine offering alongside the Joyau Rosé 2012.

Burgundy in Bordeaux

Wines from three new family-owned and run Burgundy producers were also present at the Joanne négociant tasting last month.

They include a red and white from Mercurey’s Domaine François Raquillet, four wines from Meursault-based Domaine Quentin Jeannot and three out of a larger 13-wine release from Gevrey-Chambertin’s Domaine Geantet-Pansiot.

The latter, family-run estate, now helmed by third-generation Fabien Geantet, is known for its terroir-driven wines. It was founded in 1954 and grew from just over 1ha to 30ha of vineyards spread out across the region today.

Italian excellence

Italian wines continue to dominate the releases, with many exceptional offerings reinforcing Italy’s prominence on La Place.

Particularly excellent are the new vintages from Super Tuscan Castellare di Castellina, I Sodi di S. Niccolò 2021; Ceretto, Bricco Rocche Barolo 2021; Poggio di Sotto Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino 2019 and all three of Borgogno’s 2019 single-vineyard releases; Cannubi, Liste and for the first time, Annunziata.

The historic Barolo estate, founded in 1761 is now owned by Andrea Farinetti and the Farinetti family of Eataly fame.

This famous label has undergone a renaissance in recent years, returning vinification to concrete vats, converting to organic farming, and renovating its historical cellars in Barolo.

Produced in tiny quantities, just 3,000 bottles of each wine will be exclusively released through négociants.

Market conditions

This year’s releases underscore a pragmatic response to the ongoing difficulties facing the fine wine sector. The fallout from the lacklustre 2024 hors Bordeaux campaigns – both March and September – lingers, with négociants still navigating the aftermath of an oversupplied market and tepid consumer interest.

According to a report by WineCap, published last December, ‘globally, 2024 saw a persistent decline in prices, with the Liv-ex 100 index dropping 9.2% year-to-date and Bordeaux’s First Growths (tracked by the Liv-ex 50) falling 10.9%’.

Economic headwinds – rising interest rates, a faltering Asian market, and shifting consumer habits – have squeezed margins and dampened demand, leaving négociants and merchants grappling with unsold stock from recent vintages.

‘Rather than complaining, we’re chasing solutions,’ Jean-Quentin Prats, general manager of Joanne Rare Wines, told Decanter during the tasting in February.

‘Our number one value is flexibility and a capacity to act quickly,’ he said, adding that, ‘it’s not a crisis of consumption, people are still enjoying fine wines’.

Bordeaux itself has also faced particular strain. In Chris Mercer’s latest Decanter market watch analysis, he wrote; ‘Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, recently noted a “significant stock overhang” affecting younger Bordeaux vintages on the market, in particular.

Its Bordeaux 500 index was down by around 4% in value in five years to the end of 2024′.

Adding further complexity is a projected 22% reduction in France’s 2024 harvest, with Bordeaux’s confirmed as the lowest since 1991, although it remains to be seen whether scarcity will translate into price recovery.

For these releases however, Prats remains optimistic; ‘I think these wines will be well received and bring opportunities for sales – we have a combination of new labels, strong brands and good vintages’.

See the score table of all March 2025 releases 

Tasting notes and scores for all the March 2025 releases

About the tasting notes

All the releases were tasted by Georgie Hindle at Joanne in February 2025. Where the wines had already been tasted and scored by the relevant Decanter regional editor, or a commissioned contributor (Michaela Morris for Italy and Jonathan Cristaldi for Napa Valley) those notes have been used. Tasting notes for the Spanish wine Alma 2022 and Chilean wines Laz Pizarras Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay will be published later this month. 

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A strong run of vintages makes this a fascinating time to delve deeper into the Nebbiolo strongholds of Barolo and Barbaresco in Piedmont’s rolling hills, where style icons and hidden gems alike offer riches for collectors at all levels.

Piedmont is sometimes described as Italy’s answer to Burgundy, but producers’ masterful work with Nebbiolo in the Langhe hills deserves its own plinth.

What’s more, there is talk of 2019, 2020 and 2021 forming an alluring trilogy, with 2021 as its shining capstone.

A downloadable PDF version of the Collector’s Guide: Piedmont is available here

Some renowned Barolo and Barbaresco ‘cru’ wines are produced in very small quantities and prices can be correspondingly high on the secondary market.

More broadly, though, Piedmont represents a source of relative value for fine wine collectors.

This updated guide focuses mainly on Barolo and Barbaresco, drawing on new data and exclusive reporting for Decanter Premium subscribers to deliver an introductory guide to top names, vintages and recent fine wine market performance.

The Burgundy of Italy?

Creative tension between tradition and modernity has at times boiled over in Piedmont, as witnessed by the so-called ‘Barolo wars’.

Bartolo Mascarello’s famous ‘No barrique, No Berlusconi’ 1998-vintage label epitomised one traditionalist view, alongside a separate political stance.

‘Tensions have eased in recent years as prosperity and compromise have prevailed,’ wrote Tiziano Gaia for Decanter in 2019.

Piedmont’s climatic diversity and the rise of single-vineyard ‘cru’ wines, alongside prized multi-commune blends, have helped to foster comparisons with Burgundy – even though Nebbiolo differs stylistically to Pinot Noir.

While Barolo and Barbaresco sit atop Italy’s wine classification pyramid, with DOCG status, many top sites are further showcased via ‘MGAs’ – Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva.

There is no premier or grand cru hierarchy, but magic certainly happens when top producers and sites combine.

Michaela Morris, Decanter Italy expert, recently named Giuseppe Mascarello, ‘Monprivato’ Barolo 2006 among her top 10 wines of 2024.

She wrote: ‘It captures both greatness of site and singularity of producer, simply haunting in its exquisitely defined nuances of hazelnut, incense, sweet herbs, raspberry tea and truffles. Fluid and racy with crisp acidity, its long-chained, textured tannins caress the mouth.’ (Score: 98pts).

Barolo and Barbaresco: Prominent producers and wines

Some producers are known for making great wines in both Barolo and Barbaresco DOCGs.

‘Bruno Giacosa’s red-label wines are among the world’s most collectible,’ wrote Morris in a guide to Piedmont reds.

‘The Asili Riserva Barbaresco stands on equal footing with the Falletto Vigna Le Rocche Riserva Barolo.’

Wine Searcher’s 10 most searched-for Barolo wines, as of February 2025, were:

• Giacomo Conterno, ‘Monfortino’ Riserva
• Bartolo Mascarello, Barolo
• Giacomo Conterno, ‘Francia’
• GB Burlotto, ‘Monvigliero’
• Gaja, ‘Sperss’
• Bruno Giacosa, ‘Falletto Vigna Le Rocche’
• Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio, ‘Monprivato’
• Luciano Sandrone, ‘Le Vigne’
• Luciano Sandrone, ‘Aleste’
• Giuseppe Rinaldi, ‘Brunate’

Wine-Searcher’s five most popular Barbaresco wines were:

• Gaja, Barbaresco.
• Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco.
• Gaja, ‘Sorì San Lorenzo’
• Roagna, ‘Crichët Pajé’
• Bruno Giacosa, ‘Asili’ Riserva.

Other top Barolo producers include:

Vietti

Pio Cesare

Aldo Conterno

Renato Ratti

Marchesi di Barolo

Cappellano

Giacomo Borgogno

Elio Grasso

Fontanafredda

Massolino

E. Pira & Figli

Ceretto

Paolo Scavino

Brovia

Elio Altare

Roberto Voerzio

Elvio Cogno

GD Vajra

Giacomo Fenocchio

Other top Barbaresco producers include:

La Spinetta

Giuseppe Cortese

Albino Rocca

Ca’ del Baio

Bruno Rocca

Castello di Neive

New generations

Several prestigious estates have been run by the ‘next’ generation for some time; Maria Teresa Mascarello, Bruna Giacosa and Roberto [Giacomo] Conterno head their namesake wineries, for instance.

Another trailblazer, Angelo Gaja, has been joined by his daughters, Gaia and Rossana, and son, Giovanni, as reported in the 2020 edition of this Collector’s Guide.

Aldo Fiordelli reviewed Giuseppe Rinaldi’s Brunate 2019 for Decanter, awarding it 100-points and noting it’s the first vintage ‘fully tended by Carlotta and Marta, following their father, Beppe Rinaldi’s death’.

He added: ‘Typically blended with 15% of the Le Coste MGA for an acid drive, its southern exposure seems to be beneficial in this austere vintage.’

Three newer projects to watch

Luca Currado and Elena Penna aren’t exactly ‘new’ names, having sold Vietti to the US-based Krause family in 2016. However, they stopped managing Vietti in 2023 to pursue their own project, under the Cascina Penna-Currado name.

In January 2024, Decanter’s Morris highlighted up-and-coming names making a range of wines across Piedmont, including Australian-born David Fletcher in Barbaresco.

Morris also mentioned ‘Lalù’, with owners Lara Rocchetti and Luisa Sala producing Langhe Nebbiolo and ‘a convincing first Barolo from Le Coste di Monforte’.

Decanter Wine Legend: Giacomo Conterno, Monfortino, Barolo 1978

Cantina Giacomo Conterno’s Monfortino Riserva bottling is a Nebbiolo icon and isn’t produced in every vintage.

‘This was an outstanding year,’ wrote Decanter contributing editor Stephen Brook of the Monfortino 1978, which was the first iteration of the wine sourced entirely from Cascina Francia vineyard in Serralunga.

Average price today: $5,409 per bottle*

*Wine-Searcher global average retail price per 75cl bottle, ex-tax.

Two more Decanter Wine Legends to seek out:

• Bruno Giacosa, Asili, Barbaresco Riserva 2004
• Gaja, Barbaresco 2001

Piedmont 2021: Vintage of the gods?

Nebbiolo has been on a good run of form in this enclave of northern Italy. There is particular excitement about Barolo’s class of 2021, with the first wines due to be released this year (2025).

With 2019 regarded as a five-star year and 2020 also well-rated, this feels like a fine time to be exploring Piedmont.

In the trade, anticipation for the 2021s is right up there with superstar years like 2016 or 2010.

‘Truly for Nebbiolo, [2021] is the vintage of the gods for consumers and collectors,’ said Brett Fleming, MD of UK-based merchant Armit Wines, which represents several producers, including Giacomo Fenocchio, Roagna and Bruno Giacosa.

Fleming noted that it was a hot and dry summer, followed by late-season rain that refreshed the vineyards.

‘The resulting wines are simply outstanding and in my 35-plus years of travelling vineyards, I have not seen anything like 2021,’ he declared.

Down through history: Six five-star years to know

It’s inevitably hard to generalise about such things as ‘the best’ vintage.

Top producers invariably make good wines year-in, year-out, and each growing season also yields its challenges and stylistic nuance.

Nevertheless, looking further back, here are six, five-star Piedmont vintages identified by Decanter contributing editor Stephen Brook in 2021:

2016

2010

2006

2001

1996

1990

Michaela Morris recently gave five stars to 2008 in her review of Barolo vintages in the ‘noughties’, giving this the edge over 2006.

Both 2015 and 2013 are also highly regarded.

‘The 2013 vintage has often struck me as a turning point for [Barbaresco],’ wrote Morris in a retrospective tasting for Decanter Premium, published in January 2024.

‘It started to usher in a young generation and new labels. Furthermore, with 2013, Gaja returned to the Barbaresco fold with the estate’s cru wines [Sorì San Lorenzo, Sorì Tildìn, Costa Russi], and Bruno Giacosa began producing a Rabajà bottling again.’

Release schedules

There is no fixed en primeur release period and winery schedules vary. Minimum ageing requirements run from 1 November after harvest:

Barolo: 38 months (62 months for Riservas), including 18 months in wood.

Barbaresco: 26 months (50 months for Riservas), including nine months in wood.

Some wines are aged longer prior to release and this may vary by vintage. In 2022, Aldo Fiordelli reviewed the 2013 vintage of Roagna’s Crichët Pajé Barbaresco for Decanter (97pts), noting that this vaunted wine is aged for eight years, including four in oak.

UK-based Armit Wines represents Roagna and Bruno Giacosa, and said it normally offers new releases in September and November respectively. It cautioned that its schedule wasn’t yet fixed for 2025, however.

Monfortino update

Merchant Corney & Barrow represents Roberto Conterno’s wines in the UK, tending to launch offers in October. It said recently that Giacomo Conterno, Monfortino Riserva 2019 (98pts, Decanter) should be released in 2025.

It is the first Monfortino since the 2015 vintage, none being made over the course of 2016-2018.

The 2015, initially offered by C&B in 2021 at £1,995 (3x75cl in bond), was the first to contain fruit from the Arione vineyard, acquired by Roberto Conterno earlier that same year, in addition to parcels of Francia.

In October last year, C&B suggested production for Monfortino 2019 was likely to be above the average.

‘[It] will include all the fruit (for Barolo) from both Francia and Arione,’ the merchant said.

Hunting for value in Piedmont

‘Italy produces an incredible array of wines with a high quality to price ratio from both Piedmont and Tuscany, not forgetting other less famous regions, too,’ said Miles Davis, market expert at merchant Vinum Fine Wines in his February 2025 market report.

Savvy collectors and drinkers are tuning in to the opportunities on offer.

Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at Corney & Barrow, said: ‘We have increasingly found that Piedmont is something people want to do. The wines are better made than they’ve ever been.’

He also said release prices have continued to be relatively consistent, a few exceptions aside.

It’s worth trying different bottlings from producers to find styles that delight you most. Beyond Barolo and Barbaresco DOCG, the rising quality (and lower entry cost) of Langhe Nebbiolo can also offer valuable insights into a particular producer’s style.

Roero DOCG across the Tanaro river and also the Alto Piemonte area, including Gattinara DOCG, are well worth exploring, as Michaela Morris explains in her 2023 guide: Get to know Piedmont red wines in three easy steps.

Piedmont is, of course, so much more than Nebbiolo, with fascinating reds made from Barbera and Dolcetto, plus top whites produced with Timorasso and Arneis – to name a few.

Three ‘Value’ Nebbiolo wines under $50*

Antoniolo, Riserva, Gattinara 2017

96pts | $48

Lorella Zoppis Antoniolo normally releases around 20,000 bottles of this Riserva. ‘The attack is relaxing and refined, with firm, dusty, velvety tannins and crisp acidity.’ Aldo Fiordelli.

Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco 2020

94pts | $42

‘Here we have the cooperative of Barbaresco and one known as producing some of the best-priced quality wines in all of Langhe.’ Aldo Fiordelli.

Azelia, Barolo 2019

92pts | $47

‘From 5.5 hectares in Castiglione Falletto…Good concentration for a village Barolo, and one of the greatest price-quality ratios.’ Aldo Fiordelli.

*Wine-Searcher global average retail price per 75cl, ex-tax

Piedmont on the secondary market

Even the most famous Piedmont wines generally compare favourably on price to the top grand cru names of Burgundy.

Piedmont does have a secondary market presence, albeit not to the extent of juggernauts like Burgundy or Bordeaux. Prestige Champagne and Super Tuscans have also grabbed more secondary market share in recent years.

Auction house Zachys listed Piedmont as its fifth best-selling region in terms of sales value in 2024 (see chart below).

Sales realised from Piedmont wines hit nearly $2.1m, out of total wine and spirits auction sales for the year of $63.5m.

Low liquidity

Generally speaking, Piedmont is not a leading force on the secondary market, although top vintages of renowned labels can appreciate in value over the long-term.

Vinum Fine Wines’ Miles Davis said Piedmont is ‘not particularly liquid’ on the secondary market, partly due to small production volumes of individual top wines.

There is also a feeling that many collectors buy wines on release to cellar them and drink them, rather than trade them.

But the pure-investor’s loss is to the collector’s gain, as these wines – while certainly not ‘cheap’ – have not reached price-levels that elicit universal lamentation.

Top-tier Piedmont price performance

Data from Wine-Searcher and Liv-ex suggests a mixed price performance for some of Piedmont’s top-tier wines in recent years.

As a broad guide, the following table shows how average global retail prices for five top names have changed on Wine-Searcher since February 2020.

GB Burlotto is the standout name on this list, although the performance of some other labels is comparable over a longer, 10-year, period.

Wine-Searcher average prices for Conterno’s Monfortino and Bartolo Mascarello, Barolo have more than doubled since early 2015, for instance. Prices will inevitably vary by vintage, and also by market, however.

Piedmont in a sedate fine wine market

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, tracks prices of both Piedmont and Tuscan wines in its Italy 100 index.

Data supplied to Decanter for this report shows how the Tuscan segment has outperformed its Piedmont counterpart in the last five years.

Chart title: Piedmont vs Tuscany on the Liv-ex Italy 100 index

A boom period on the fine wine secondary market, particularly between 2020 and late 2022, has given way to more subdued activity in the past 24 months.

Higher interest rates and global political and economic uncertainty have been cited as contributing factors to the current malaise.

Prices have fallen back, albeit previous gains have not been entirely eroded in all segments, as frequently reported by Decanter magazine’s Market Watch segment.

Liv-ex’s Italy 100 has been notable for its relative resilience versus other regional indices; it dropped 10.3% in two years to 31 January 2025, while the broad-based Liv-ex 1000 index fell 23.8%.

Yet, the chart above indicates that Piedmont has suffered to a greater extent than top-tier Tuscany (i.e. Super Tuscan wines) – and also didn’t rise by as much in the prior upturn.

There are always exceptions to general trends. Going beyond the Italy 100 index, Liv-ex said prices on some individual Piedmont wines have risen over the past 12 months, while others have fallen sharply.

Liv-ex risers and fallers over 12 months

Prices refer to Liv-ex Market Price, calculated in pounds sterling and calibrated to 12x75cl in bond. Percentage figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

However, Piedmont’s relatively low liquidity – as previously mentioned – must be taken into account.

None of the wines featured above were among the five most-traded Piedmont wines on Liv-ex in the past year, in value terms.

These were:

• Giacomo Conterno, Monfortino Riserva | 9.3% of Piedmont trade value
• Bartolo Mascarello, Barolo | 6.1%
• Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Francia | 3.8%
• Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco | 3.2%
• Gaja, Barbaresco | 2.8%

What next for the market?

While the fine wine market has a track record of long-term value growth, views were mixed on the nearer-term outlook.

A global survey in late 2024 by consultancy group Wine Lister found one quarter of CEOs and wine department heads expected the wine market to pick up again in 2025, but 49% of respondents said this won’t happen until 2026, and 26% said it would take until 2027 or later.

In the meantime, there could be opportunities for buyers still interested in finding gems for their cellars.

Vinum Fine Wines’ Davis said in January that ‘prestige mature Piedmont’ was one of several things to look out for in 2025.

Given the high anticipation surrounding 2019, 2020 and 2021 as a potential trilogy of very good-to-great vintages in Piedmont, it will be interesting to see how the region’s market context develops in the next few years.

Wine investment: Six things to consider

1. Some of the most prominent fine wines on the secondary market have a track record of increasing in value over time, particularly as available supplies diminish, but nothing is guaranteed. The pool of investment-grade wines is also relatively small.

2. Professional storage in bond is considered important. A wine’s condition and provenance can affect value.

3. Wine investment is unregulated. Only buy wine from reputable sources, and check provenance and condition as carefully as possible before buying.

4. Factor in costs, such as for storage, and possible selling fees. Storage is often charged at a fixed annual rate.

5. Some auction houses have previously told Decanter that full cases tend to be more in-demand, although limited-production wines may be released or allocated in smaller quantities – such as three-bottle cases.

6. If unsure, always seek professional advice.

Report by Chris Mercer for Decanter Premium. A freelance journalist and former editor of Decanter.com, Chris has written about the global fine wine market for more than a decade

Click here to join Decanter Premium now and enjoy instant access to the latest Bordeaux 2020 En Primeur Collector’s guide, as well as past Collector’s Guide’s including, Left Bank Bordeaux, Napa, Burgundy and the Rhône.

Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

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Comando G, Rumbo al Norte, Cerebros, Gredos

First vintage: 2010

No one can claim to understand the essence of Spanish Garnacha until they’ve tasted Rumbo al Norte (‘Route to the North’).

‘It’s liquid granite,’ says Daniel Landi, one of the founders of Comando G. ‘Rumbo al Norte changed our lives – and the life of Gredos.’

See below for a must-try vintage of Comando G, Rumbo al Norte

Having almost single-handedly put the Gredos region, west of Madrid, on the map, Comando G (profiled in our latest annual Spain guide, November 2024) has built a cult following around the world. Its Garnachas are unanimously considered to be among the most refined and terroir-expressive iterations of the variety.

The duo’s authenticity, down-to-earth geekiness and effortless cool, along with their technical abilities, met the demand of a younger generation of collectors who were looking beyond the classics. Their top wines, and Rumbo al Norte in particular, have since carved their own firm place in the fine wine market.

When Landi and his partner in crime Fernando García came upon Rumbo al Norte, the tiny, 0.3ha, north-facing plot was at risk of being uprooted. It’s an extreme site, sitting at 1,075m in the village of Villanueva de Avila, where gnarled Garnacha vines, planted in 1950, are cradled by huge granite boulders, some so closely positioned that not even a horse can pass between them.

The prescience of García and Landi, recognising the potential of this challenging site, reflects the determination and vision that has informed Comando G from its humble beginnings.

Rumbo al Norte sits atop Comando G’s Burgundy style quality pyramid, not only as its flagship single vineyard wine but also as the plot that best captures the essence of Gredos, of its granite soils and the Garnachas they produce.

Such a small area of low-yielding vines (struggling to produce a mere 1,500kg/ha) necessarily produces a very limited number of bottles each year, which are quickly snapped up by collectors and perform increasingly well in secondary markets.

Rumbo al Norte’s greatest relevance, however, is how it distils the essence of Comando G’s passion and philosophy, which in turn have empowered a new generation of like-minded producers and broadened the scope and audience of Spanish fine-wine drinking.

‘Rumbo al Norte is a child of nonconfirmity. It’s the wine that – like the North Star guides seamen – guided us,’ concludes Landi. As it has guided me, and many other admirers of Comando G’s wines, on a rediscovery of Spanish Garnacha

The wine to try before you die

Comando G, Rumbo al Norte, Cebreros, Gredos, 2021 – 98pts

POA £ (2022) Burnett & Herbert, Les Caves de Pyrene US$750 VinoNueva

100% Garnacha; bottled in April 2023 after ageing in a mix of 500L-700L French oak casks and amphorae.

Incredible focus and precision in this light-hued wine, with filigree aromatics and a detailed nose of crushed rose petals, pomegranate and cranberry. In the mouth, the ripe red fruit is sprinkled with white pepper and drenched in blood orange juice – all held firmly by mineral, soft yet chiselled tannins. Long tail of sour cherry and amaretto.

Drink: 2025-2050 Alcohol: 14.5%

Spanish Icons: Comando G, Rumbo al Norte

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López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia, Rioja

First vintage: 1913

Among the world’s most recognisable vineyard names, López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia has become a brand in its own right.

Its Reserva is treasured as one of Spain’s most accessible icons, both stylistically and budget-wise, consistently delivering power and poise, drinkability and staying power, quality and value.

See below for a must-try vintage of López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia

The exceptional vintages, which after more time in barrel become Gran Reservas, on the other hand, command significantly higher prices in both the primary and secondary markets. Likewise, Tondonia’s white and rosé iterations are among Spain’s most collectible – and unique – wines of both categories.

Now in the capable hands of fourth-generation María José López de Heredia, the winery is determinedly committed to tradition and heritage.

‘We are obsessed with not changing our style,’ she says. ‘It’s not only what our customers want but also what we believe in. We want our wines to reflect our land and region, Rioja Alta, as well as the history that brought us to the present. We are faithful to both our viticultural and oenological traditions.’

Founder Rafael López de Heredia built the eponymous winery in Haro in 1877 and, after nearly three decades as a bulk wine trader, began the establishment of the vineyards that now provide the only source of fruit to Bodegas López de Heredia’s wines: Tondonia, Bosconia, Cubillo and Gravonia.

Replanted between 1901 and 1907 after being decimated by phylloxera, Tondonia covers just over 100ha on the right bank of a meander of the Ebro in Rioja Alavesa.

Tempranillo makes up the majority of plantings, with smaller percentages of Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo (Cariñena), Viura and Malvasía. ‘Every vintage is a challenge. Quality is a goal that can never be seen as achieved. Experience can give us confidence but the character [of the wines] is built every day,’ says María José.

‘All generations have had to work hard, with constancy, inquisitiveness, conviction and a deep understanding of nature.’

Constancy is indeed what first comes to mind when thinking of Viña Tondonia and its wines, which have a strong character but soft edges, are comforting but never boring, unapologetic yet unassuming – just what you expect an icon to be.

The wine to try before you die

López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Reserva, Rioja, 2012 – 94pts

£27.50 (ib)-£56 Widely available via UK independents US$55-$72 Widely available

70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, bottled in January 2022, having matured in 225L American oak barrels for six years.

All you can expect from a classical Viña Tondonia with its focused intensity and muscular yet very elegant tannins. At once assertive and silky, with juicy red and blue fruit gliding over the palate while being pleasantly pulled back by an energetic, iodine verve.

Subtle, hovering, brooding notes of tobacco, mocha and wet forest floor.

Drink: 2025-2040 Alcohol: 13%

Spanish Icons: López de Heredia, Viña Tondionia

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Château Latour has revealed its annual March releases will feature the 2016 vintage of its grand vin, 2019 vintage of second label, Les Forts de Latour, and 2020 vintage of its third label, Pauillac de Latour.

The trio is among the strongest line-ups since Latour withdrew from the En Primeur system in 2012, offering collectors and consumers an opportunity to acquire these wines with pristine provenance.

This strategic release aligns with the estate’s philosophy of offering wines only when they are deemed ready to drink.

Scroll down for scores and notes on Château Latour 2016 and other up-coming releases

A vintage of distinction: Latour 2016

The 2016 vintage is a benchmark for Bordeaux, widely considered one of the finest of the century. A blend of 92.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.1% Merlot, Latour’s grand vin 2016 exhibits remarkable structure, purity, and longevity, resulting in a 100-point score.

While this one isn’t quite ready to drink, with its firm structure still on show, it is a monumental wine with great promise for a long life ahead.

The 2016 vintage saw extreme weather, with the wettest first half in 20 years followed by one of the hottest and driest second halves in 16 years.

Heavy winter rains and a cool spring led to a uniform fruit set, while intense summer heat and drought stressed the vines until timely September rain provided relief ensuring slow ripening and excellent phenolic maturity.

This allowed for an ideal harvest at Latour from 22nd September to 19th October.

Les Forts de Latour 2019: Organic certification

The 2019 Les Forts de Latour, alongside the 2020 Pauillac de Latour, is one of the first wines from the estate to be fully certified organic, reflecting the château’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and biodynamic principles.

Since 2015, the entire 96.5 hectare vineyard has been managed organically, achieving official certification in 2018. Additionally, biodynamic preparations are applied to the historic 47ha L’Enclos, and select external plots, focusing on stimulating biodiversity and strengthening the vines’ natural defences.

For several years Latour has used horses for ploughing in order to minimise soil compaction and uses satellite imagery and vine vigour sensors to assess micro-terroir differences across its plots some of which are spliced with blue clay underneath gravel.

The 2019 vintage began with a wet and cold January, followed by a warm February that led to an early and even bud break in late March. A stormy, cold April slowed vine growth, but a hot spell in early June ensured successful flowering.

From mid-June, hot and dry conditions caused hydric stress in some plots, though 27mm of late-July rain helped restart ripening. Ideal conditions persisted until mid-September, ensuring healthy grapes for harvest, which ran from 13 September to 5 October.

On the palate, Les Forts de Latour 2019 is fully textured with a succulent red fruit mid palate and a core of crushed stone and iron touches. ‘The 2019 is tasting beautifully right now,’ said Latour’s technical director Hélène Génin during this tasting.

Pauillac de Latour 2020: the gateway to Latour

The Pauillac de Latour 2020 is the estate’s third wine offering an introduction to the range. The vintage was marked by a wet spring and a hot, dry summer with timely August rains ensuring balanced ripening, leading to a small but concentrated harvest of high-quality grapes.

This release will appeal to consumers seeking an approachable expression of Latour’s winemaking style.

‘We carefully considered whether to release the 2021 before the 2020,’ said Génin. ‘It was possible, but we felt 2020 was ready first. We also like to maintain one year between our second and third wines for consistency.’

Market reception and consumer expectations

Latour’s approach of back vintage releases has long been established. The grand vin 2016 is expected to be in particularly high demand, given its status as one of the best vintages in recent memory.

Les Forts de Latour 2019 offers a more accessible yet still age-worthy alternative, while Pauillac de Latour 2020 serves as a solid entry point to the estate’s wines.

Génin acknowledged that the economic climate isn’t ideal at the moment but says the release is ‘a good message to the market’.

‘We would have liked to wait for better market conditions, but we couldn’t delay further. We won’t sell at a price we could have imagined [a few years ago] but we hope the market will react well’.

She also said the estate still has ‘enough bottles’ of both the grand vin and second wine left for a further, albeit smaller, release at some point in the future.

Looking ahead, Latour will continue its archive releases with Latour 2012 this September (last year’s release was the 2009) and will likely choose Pauillac 2021, Les Forts 2020 and grand vin 2018 for next year’s March release.

Château Latour: Spring releases

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Clos Mogador, Vinya Classificada, Priorat

First vintage: 1989

One of the leading, and most characterful, faces of the ‘Gang of Five’ who transformed Priorat in the last quarter of the 20th century, Clos Mogador’s founder René Barbier brought an idiosyncratic strength to his interpretation of the region, at once poetic and technically exact – attributes that can also be ascribed to the project’s namesake wine, whose earthy complexity and elegant rusticity never fail to impress, vintage after vintage.

See below for a must-try vintage of Clos Mogador Vinya Classificada

The history of Clos Mogador is also that of the Barbier family, which grew and evolved with the vineyards of Priorat – and the Clos Mogador project – as their identity and point of reference.

In 1979, René bought his first plot and settled with wife Isabelle (1952-2020) and six-year-old René Jr in the then overlooked region.

The young family’s life revolved around Barbier’s obsession with Priorat’s llicorella soils and steep slopes, which culminated in the production of the blend of Garnacha, Cariñena, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon that’s now synonymous with modern Priorat.

The familial craftsmanship with which Clos Mogador has always been associated is further underscored by Isabelle’s work overseeing communication and image (including label design). The family has since added other wines and regions to its portfolio, but Mogador remains the flagship and Priorat the spiritual home.

Since 2021, Barbier’s sons Christian and René Jr have been at the helm of the estate. In charge of viticulture, Christian has been consolidating biodynamic and agriculture practices, with all vineyards currently worked by horse.

In the cellar, René Jr is pursuing greater precision with a lighter-handed approach, aware of the challenges posed by climate change to achieve balance.

Clos Mogador is an icon already, but one that also intrigues for the potential that lies ahead.

The wine to try before you die

Clos Mogador, Vinya Classificada, Priorat, 2021 – 97pts

£50-£57 (ib) Christopher Keiller, Cru, Farr Vintners, Ideal Wine Co, Turville Valley / US$110-$130 Astor Wines, Compline, Gordon’s, Hart & Cru, Hi-Time, Houston Wine Merchant, Marty’s, Rain City Wines

49% Garnacha, 29% Cariñena, 16% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon; native-yeast fermented, 30% with stems, then aged for 18 months in 2,000L oak foudres.

Wood and alcohol are masterfully integrated in this vintage, which balances fragrant nuance with muscularity. Plum, infused cranberries and cherry sorbet rest on chestnut and green olive tapenade.

Oregano, thyme and Earl Grey impart herbal depth. These are echoed in the petrichor and wet tobacco leaves that sit in the background. Fine yet robust tannins allow the wine to linger and develop beautifully in the mouth.

Drink: 2025-2036 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: Clos Mogador, Vinya Classificada

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• Spanish Icons: Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Blanco

Bordeaux prices have dropped notably over the past 24 months, according to data from international merchant Bordeaux Index (see chart below).

This partly reflects a wider market malaise, although Bordeaux didn’t rise by as much as Burgundy, Champagne and Tuscany in the prior boom period.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at Bordeaux Index, said trading activity on Bordeaux ‘is pretty muted and it’s not obvious what the catalyst [for growth] is’. Bordeaux remains a cornerstone of the market, yet it has been facing a ‘significant stock overhang’, said Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade.

It said that a relatively high number of Bordeaux wines were trading below their release prices, although trading in older vintages, from 2009 and back, was more resilient.

Liv-ex’s Bordeaux 500 index fell 21.3% in value in two years to 31 December, and was also down 4.1% over five years.

The Fine Wine 50 index, which tracks first growths, has dropped 8.7% in five years. Several global trade leaders recently said to consultancy group Wine Lister that Bordeaux is likely to see resurgent demand in the next five years. O’Connell said that Bordeaux would likely benefit from any pick-up in the broader market.

Bordeaux 2015: 10 years on

Bordeaux Index’s annual ’10 Years On’ tasting in February focuses on the well-regarded Bordeaux 2015 vintage. This could be a prompt for buyers, depending on how critics view the wines, suggested O’Connell.

Price performances have been mixed since en primeur. Château Haut-Brion 2015 was being offered on LiveTrade at its original UK release price of £4,250 (12x75cl in bond).

Château Margaux 2015, the final vintage of the estate’s late, great MD Paul Pontallier, was offered at £8,600 – double its UK release price. Figeac 2015 was up by 52% versus its UK release price, with Mouton Rothschild and Angélus up 2% and 8% respectively, LiveTrade data showed. La Mission HautBrion 2015 was down 25%

The Bordeaux Index view

Bordeaux currently occupies an unusual position in the fine wine market. It remains the most significantly traded region – due to the overall quantities available and prominence – but at the same time it has perhaps the most subdued relative demand dynamics across the collector base.

The trajectory of prices – which have been pretty flat across five years and down across the last couple – struggles to attract investment-focused buyers, while there is an argument that collectors are looking elsewhere and are potentially jaded by successive muted en primeur campaigns.

This makes for difficult reading for Bordeaux enthusiasts, due to the remarkably high quality and consistency levels of wines from the region – especially in the last decade or so. Some believe that a resumption in overall fine wine market momentum might particularly benefit Bordeaux, while others tend to think that the region has to make some changes in its pricing and distribution to catalyse overall activity.

We potentially sit between these two positions, retaining great enthusiasm for the region and its significance but conscious that certain changes could drive outsized recovery of interest.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Expert’s unsure about fine wine market’s future

Opinions are split among global trade leaders on when the fine wine market will see a broad return to growth, according to a recently released survey.

One quarter of the 53 CEOs and wine department heads surveyed by consultancy group Wine Lister said they expected the wine market to pick up again in 2025, but 49% of respondents said this won’t happen until 2026, and 26% said it would take until 2027 or later.

Respondents from Asia were the most downbeat. Those in the Americas were the most optimistic, with Europe-based trade leaders in the middle, said Wine Lister in its annual Wine Leagues report.

When asked what could help the market, 80% of respondents said lower release prices for fine wines and 68% said a stronger Asian market.

Lower interest rates and greater geopolitical stability were also cited as important factors.

Unico bucks the market trend

Vega Sicilia has reasserted its credentials as a name to watch on the market, and the 2015 vintage of its flagship Unico debuted in early 2025. Unico 2015 was offered at £837 per 3x75cl in bond in January (Bordeaux Index, Lay & Wheeler).

A month earlier, Vega Sicilia became the first Spanish winery to top the annual Liv-ex Power 100 ranking of secondary market performance.

Vega Sicilia was ‘one of 2024’s few bright spots’ in a subdued market, said Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade. ‘Starting from a relatively low level, [Vega Sicilia] trade value is up 455.8% on last year,’ it said.

Prices haven’t shot up, though. Unico 2013 saw relatively strong trading, but its price dipped 3% in 12 months to 3 January, Liv-ex data showed.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at Bordeaux Index, said Vega Sicilia generally sees good buyer interest. Auction houses Hart Davis Hart (HDH) and Christie’s offered a variety of Unico vintages in late 2024. Highlights included:

• Unico 1981 (9x75cl) sold for $5,377.50 Unico 1975 (£4,409; high e: $4,500, HDH)

• Unico 1995 (11x75cl) sold for $5,736 (high e: $5,500, HDH)

• Unico 2004 (12x75cl) sold for $3,824 (high e: $3,800, HDH)

• Unico 1970 in magnum (3x150cl) sold for $8,125 (high e: $7,500, Christie’s)

• Unico 1975 (3x75cl) sold for $2,500 (high e: $2,800, Christie’s)

Sales prices include buyer’s premium.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890, Rioja

First vintage: 1890

The Gran Reserva 890 remains La Rioja Alta’s flagship and most symbolic wine, produced only in vintages deemed of sufficient quality, from selected plots of bush-trained vines in Rioja Alta, aged no less than 50 years.

The wine flew under the radar of collectors and investors until recently.

Scroll down for one vintage of Gran Reserva 890 all wine lovers should try

’A few years ago we started seeing it in auctions, private collections and in vertical listings of top restaurants,’ says Guillermo de Aranzabal, president of La Rioja Alta.

Ageworthiness, powerful classicism and scarcity (as an example, between 2005 and 2015, only four vintages – 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2015 – were produced) are among the reasons that collectors and investors finally caught up with it.

The wine’s name is a nod to the producer’s origins: the Sociedad Vinícola de La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 as a partnership between five families from Rioja and the Basque Country.

The first wine produced by the company, released that same year, was the Reserva 1890, precursor of today’s Gran Reserva 890 (the first digit was dropped during the 1890s to avoid confusion with the vintage).

Since then, La Rioja Alta has grown to become a prominent wine group, with four wineries in Rioja, Rías Baixas and Ribera del Duero, producing exclusively from its own 800ha of vineyards.

The style of 890 remains very much its own, marked by the signature influence of American oak, imparted by barrels produced at La Rioja Alta’s in-house cooperage from outdoor-aged wood.

Still, there have been slight adjustments. ‘We’ve replaced the last two rackings [done every six months] with top-ups, to avoid excessive oxidation and release the wines fresher and a little less evolved,’ explains Aranzabal. ‘We’ve also reduced the time in barriques from eight to six years.’

But he’s quick to clarify that, when producing wines such as 890, the work requires ‘the differentiation between fashions and trends – the former are transient, while the latter endure’. So, he says: ‘If a wine ages for a total of 15 years in the winery, you need to avoid following fads and be mindfully aware of trends.’

This stance, and the uncompromising style of 890, is somewhat courageous, definitely against the zeitgeist, making one feel the privilege of tasting a slice of history. Even sceptics of American oak (and traditional Rioja) will appreciate the confident ability shown by 890.

The wine to try before you die

La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890, Rioja, 2010 – 95pts

£170-£200 Widely available via UK agent Hallgarten Wines / US$230-$300 Widely available

Tempranillo with 2% Mazuelo (Cariñena) and 3% Graciano fermented separately, with the best batches selected and left to rest in American oak barrels, 20% new, for six years; the best 236 barrels were bottled, unfiltered, in March 2017.

True to itself – and the character of the 2010 vintage – this combines lovely fruit purity, sweet spiciness and elegant smokiness. Plum, red cherries and redcurrant jam are infused with vanilla, toasted coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg and cocoa nibs. Powdery, firm tannins widen the mid-palate, but there’s lovely focus and sharp linearity throughout.

Drink: 2025-2045 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890

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Dominio de Pingus, Pingus, Ribera del Duero

First vintage: 1995

‘It’s almost a damnation to produce a wine that becomes an icon from day one,’ says Peter Sisseck when describing the attention and pressure that fell upon him with the release of Pingus’ first vintage.

It all started with few expectations and a lot of wonder; the Danish winemaker was working at Hacienda Monasterio and felt Ribera del Duero, with its wealth of old vines, deserved a true ‘vineyard wine’.

See below for one recommended vintage of Peter Sisseck’s Pingus to try

‘It came quite naturally to me: to make a wine from old vines, at a friend’s garage, without much technique, very artisanal. There was a lot of innocence about it and no [long-term] projects, or business plans.’

However, he still needed to sell the wine. He took it to friends in Bordeaux (where he worked before joining Monasterio) and it was offered, en primeur, through the La Place system; it sold out in days and was received enthusiastically by leading critics.

‘It ended up in the right hands and the right market,’ Sisseck says, adding that it filled a gap for a terroir-driven Ribera, for which there was clearly an appetite. Indeed, Pingus’ success has arguably underpinned an ongoing transformation in the region, a reappreciation of its vineyard stock and renewed confidence among producers.

Pingus – produced from 4.2ha of old Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) vines – gave birth to Dominio de Pingus. The winery, which was finished in 2004, now houses the production of the flagship wine alongside two younger siblings: Flor de Pingus (‘our village wine’) and Psi (in partnership with local growers, part of an effort to save old vines that are at risk of abandonment).

According to Sisseck, this all forms part of an ongoing journey. About the wine itself, he says: ‘I haven’t changed anything; and I’ve changed everything. I don’t stick to a recipe. If anything, we are more and more precise (in winemaking and viticulture), because we need to respond to challenging conditions.’

And it’s precision, along with a distinctively framed depth, that makes Pingus a chapter of its own in the long history of Ribera del Duero.

The wine to try before you die

Dominio de Pingus, Pingus, Ribera del Duero, 2018 – 98pts

£642 (ib)-£925 Berry Bros & Rudd, Brunswick, Corney & Barrow, Crop & Vine, Farr Vintners, Harrods, Ideal Wine Co, Latimer Vintners, VinQuinn US$1,300-$1,400 Benchmark, Jungle Jim’s, Naples Fine Wine, Sunfish Cellars

100% Tempranillo, aged for 22-24 months in second-use 225L and 500L French oak barrels, with a portion in 2,500L vats.

Impressive depth and focus, with dense bramble, plum, black olive and mulberry at the core. The firm, well-honed tannins have a distinct earthy bite of liquorice root, perfectly offset by refreshing thyme, oregano and macerated sage.

An elegant veil of sweet spice and toast adds depth of field, keeping the finish in focus with lingering freshness and vibrancy. Organic.

Drink: 2025-2045 Alcohol: 14.5%

Spanish Icons: Dominio de Pingus, Pingus

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Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja

First vintage: 1969

Only produced in exceptional vintages, Prado Enea uses a selection of the best and later-harvested grapes from Muga’s plots on the northwestern edge of Rioja Alta, at around 500m-600m.

Its ageworthiness and laidback classicism have made it – vintage variation notwithstanding – one of the safest and best-valued options among investment-worthy Spanish wines. It strikes an interesting balance between classical and more modern Rioja, and this makes it a good entry point, both stylistically and budget-wise, for budding collectors.

Winemaker Manuel Muga explains that the age of the vines, in tandem with climate change, will further limit the quantity of Prado Enea produced in the future, adding that ‘the most important [thing] is that quality will always prevail over quantity’.

Scroll down for a must-try recommendation of Prado Enea

Prado Enea is also a symbol of the continuity and evolution of Bodegas Muga, which was founded in 1932 in the centre of Haro by Isaac Muga and Aurora Caño. Second-generation Manuel, Isabel and Isaac took the helm in 1969, following their father’s passing.

The siblings moved the winery’s headquarters to sprawling stone barracks – built in 1862 and purchased by Muga in 1967 – in the historical Barrio de la Estación, in Haro’s outskirts. Formerly owned by Dionisio de Prado, the building was known locally as Prado Enea (a Basque influenced designation akin to ‘the house of Prado’).

The family decided to pay homage to this heritage by thus naming its new Gran Reserva.

‘Although we will never lose the essence of Prado Enea, we are aware of the need to adapt,’ Manuel explains. In recent years, freshness and elegance have gained more prominence, without sacrificing depth and complexity.

‘This challenge [to adapt], extends to the winery team, which has been able to combine oenological tradition with the technical innovations that improve the wine’s quality without changing its identity. Evolution is not just a product of [the conditions of each] vintage, but also of the team’s ability to learn and adapt without losing sight of what makes us unique.’

The wine to try before you die

Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja, 2005 – 94pts

£55 (ib)-£90 Berry Bros & Rudd, Bordeaux Index, Burnett & Herbert, Crop & Vine, Fine & Rare, Lay & Wheeler, Seckford, Vintage Drinks US$180-$245 Maison Mura, The Spanish Table, Total Wine & More

80% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, picked late then native-yeast fermented in 10,000L oak vats with no temperature control; the wine was aged in 16,000L oak vats for 12 months, then a minimum of 36 months in oak casks and a minimum of 36 months in the bottle.

Showing beautiful, balanced development two decades on, with enduring vibrancy on the palate and a mineral quality to the tannic framework.The juicy blueberry, bramble and mulberry fruit is heavily but elegantly cloaked in tobacco leaves, dried rose petals, mushrooms, black olives and chestnuts.

Fragrant wet soil notes lift the nuances of mountain herbs, and it has a very long finish with lingering sweet spice and poached plums.

Drink: 2025-2027 Alcohol: 13.5%

Spanish Icons: Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva

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Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco, Rioja

First vintage: 1917

It’s difficult to capture in words the experience of tasting Marqués de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco.

Not only does it offer a singular, complex combination of aromas and flavours, but it also brings the essence of wine to the forefront: a product of human craftsmanship capable of bringing into question the inexorability of time.

If the red Castillo Ygay can be categorised as iconic, its white counterpart verges on ‘unicorn’ status. To say that Castillo Ygay Reserva Especial Blanco is highly collectible and scarcely available is an understatement; the most recent release, of the 1986 vintage (bottled in 2014), still doesn’t have a successor announced.

Scroll down for the vintage of Castillo Ygay Blanco to try before you die

Since it was first produced in 1917, only 13 vintages have been released. It relies on Viura and Malvasía grapes (some vintages are single-varietal Viura) from the Capellanía site, planted in 1945.

Aged for about two decades in barrel and – in the case of the 1986 – a further 67 months in concrete, it’s a resolutely traditional white Rioja that, with each release, rewards time and patience.

A true pioneer of modern Bordeaux-inspired Rioja, Don Luciano Murrieta founded the winery in 1852 near Logroño. The entrepreneurial aristocrat was among the first to release, and the first to export, Rioja wines after phylloxera derailed French production.

In 1983, Marqués de Murrieta Estates and Wines was purchased by the Cebrián-Sagarriga family, with second-generation Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, the 11th Conde de Creixell, currently at the helm.

The Galician family remained faithful to Murrieta’s heritage and style, while also consolidating its premium focus.

Marqués de Murrieta produces exclusively from its own vineyard: the sprawling, continuous 300ha Finca Ygay. Within it, three plots – Canajas, La Plana and Capellanía – have been singled out for the production of the winery’s top wines.

Among them is the flagship Castillo Ygay, named after the historical structure at the centre of the estate, converted into a museum in 2019.

The wine to try before you die

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo de Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco, Rioja 1986, 99pts

£705-£1,000 (ib) Berry Bros & Rudd, Fine & Rare US$950-$1,100 Binny’s, Connecticut Avenue Wine & Liquor, Italian Wine Merchants, Wally’s

97% Viura and 3% Malvasía, aged for 21 years in 225L American oak barrels, then a further 67 months settling in concrete tanks.

A complex, nuanced and sinuous journey through the palate, expertly balancing nutty depth, floral allure and zesty freshness. Intense, well-defined flavours of pickled walnut, linden, wet hay, camomile, preserved lemon, red apple peel, quince and nectarine fill the mouth without ever becoming weighty. Incredible structure – outlined by intense spiciness – and depth.

Finishes with luscious honey, pain aux raisins and toasted brioche.

Drink: 2025-2038 Alcohol: 13.5%

Spanish Icons: Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Blanco

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Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat

First vintage: 1993

It’s difficult to be indifferent to the trademark purity of fruit, chiselled tannins and intense minerality of L’Ermita.

Hailing from the eponymous 1.44ha plot in Gratallops, in the heart of Priorat, the wine quickly became Alvaro Palacios’ most sought-after, following its first release in 1993, four years after the star winemaker started his namesake project in the Catalonian region.

See which must-try vintage of L’Ermita Ines recommends below

It’s one of the wines that rebuilt the image of Priorat, repositioning it as a region where heroic viticulture meets fine wine production. Unapologetically priced high from the outset, it instilled a new sense of confidence and possibility among the region’s new wave of producers.

Palacios came upon and purchased L’Ermita shortly before the inaugural vintage. The chapel (ermita) that overlooks the plot provided obvious, and poetic, branding.

Sitting between 350m and 430m, ‘it’s a vineyard touched by a special gift, where the schist and quartz north-facing plots lend Garnacha a transcendent emotional beauty’, Palacios says. The wine itself has gone through significant stylistic changes over the years.

Between 1993 and 2004, the final blend included 25% of Cabernet Sauvignon from another vineyard; since then, L’Ermita – awarded Gran Vinya Classificada status in 2017 – is made exclusively with the Garnacha and interspersed Cariñena and white grapes (Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez) planted within its perimeter in 1910 and 1939 (Palacios also planted some vines in 1996-1997).

This reflects an ever-sharper awareness of what makes L’Ermita and Priorat special – and collectible.

‘The land has taught us how to respect, with humility, the true historical legacy of Priorat,’ Palacios explains. ‘Today, we work with indigenous varieties, respecting local traditions, so as to prevail with the typicity and authenticity of what once was.’

The wine to try before you die

Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat 2021 – 98pts

£700 (ib) – £1,160 Christopher Keiller, Crop & Vine, Cru, Ideal Wine Co, Millésima, VinQuinn US$1,300-$1,640 Benchmark, Naples Fine Wine, Pogo’s, Zachys

Garnacha and Cariñena with a small splash of white varieties; native-yeast fermented with 55% whole bunches, then aged in French oak foudres for 12 months. Refined, nuanced nose with finely etched aromas of plums, dried violets, black cherries and brambles.

Austere, unapologetic minerality on the palate supports the crunchy blueberry, plum and blackcurrant fruit. A fine layer of red apple peel and vermouth adds vibrancy and energy throughout.

An intriguing touch of tree bark adds a pleasant, earthy pull. Still coiled and timid, this will evolve beautifully for years to come.

Drink: 2025-2050 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita

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Vega Sicilia, Unico, Ribera del Duero

First vintage: 1915

The fact that Vega Sicila became, in 2024, the first Spanish winery to lead Liv-ex’s Power 100 ranking is mostly due to the enduring and increasing investment appeal of its flagship wine, Unico (Spanish for ‘unique’).

With origins dating back to 1864, Vega Sicilia was founded by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, who brought cuttings from Bordeaux to add to the local Tinto Fino (Tempranillo).

The blending of the indigenous and imported grapes has since become the estate’s signature.

Scroll down for the vintage of Vega Sicilia Unico to try before you die

Vega Sicilia affirmed its reputation as one of the first Spanish fine wine producers in the early 20th century, under the ownership of Antonio Herrero. The Alvarez family purchased the estate in 1982 – the same year DO Ribera del Duero was created – and a new phase of expansion and brand-building began.

Gonzalo Iturriaga, technical director at Tempos Vega Sicilia (the umbrella under which the Ribera del Duero-based group manages its projects in Spain and beyond), points out that Unico, like all of Vega Sicilia’s wines, is released when it’s ready to drink – which explains why vintage releases don’t follow chronological order.

The masterful delivery of drinkability married to power, upon release, makes Unico stand out among its peers. Iturriaga has overseen production of all the group’s wines since 2015, following the departure of Xavier Ausàs. The latter, in turn, replaced the renowned Mariano Garcia, who produced his first vintage at Vega Sicilia in 1968.

That only three winemakers have overseen the production of Unico over more than half a century helps to explain both the consistency of the wine and strength of the brand.

‘When one arrives at a place like [Vega Sicilia], it’s important to be very respectful of the history, philosophy and style of the wine… We are lucky to work in a winery where we don’t need to follow trends and can remain faithful to our style.’

Although Unico remains a blend of Tinto Fino with a lesser, varying percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, aged for at least 10 years, there have been stylistic changes.

‘In the last couple of decades, we’ve reduced the impact of wood – ageing more in foudres and less in barrique – in search of better textural definition and greater complexity,’ Iturria explains. The best, it seems, may be yet to come.

The wine to try before you die

Vega Sicilia, Unico, Ribera del Duero 2014 – 97pts

£258.33 (ib)-£453 Berry Bros & Rudd, Burnett & Herbert, Christopher Keiller, Corney & Barrow, Farr Vintners, Hic, Humble Grape, Ideal Wine Co, KWM, Laithwaites, Millésima, Petersham Cellar, Roberson, Tanners, The Oxford Wine Co, Waud Wines US$600-$700 Widely available

94% Tempranillo and 6 % Cabernet Sauvignon grown at 700m-900m; bottled in June 2020 following maturation in two stages, first in 225L French and American oak barrels, then in 22,000L wooden vats. Showing appealing roundness and approachability, with soft, ripe strawberry, red cherry and plum lined with black pepper and nutmeg.

No rush to drink it though, as there’s great vividness to the fruit, with a refreshing acid streak and assertive, sculpted tannins. Seductive floral and herbal nuances – violets and dried oregano – hover and linger.

Drink: 2025-2050 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: Vega Sicilia, Unico

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It’s impossible to will, or proclaim, the creation of an icon. Any Hollywood talent agent worth their salt will tell you as much. And yet, when achieved, icon status is undisputable.

So what does the process of becoming an icon entail? What makes the 10 Spanish wines we’ve chosen worthy of the description? The answer is never straightforward. Producers themselves acknowledge that there is, despite their recognised efforts and focus on quality, an element of serendipity made of fortunate encounters and of the sometimes baffling flux of history.

Still, luck and historical relevance need to be met by a combination of winemaking excellence, expert viticulture and privileged terroirs. The 10 icons of Spanish wine highlighted in the coming pages share two common denominators: individuality and consistency of style and quality.

These allow them to remain firmly above fleeting fashions, standing out not just as benchmark examples of their regions but also as symbols of rigour, professionalism and strength of character.

They are faithful to their time and place but, above all, to themselves.

Scroll down for a great modern vintage of CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva

Most importantly, however, these are incredible tasting experiences that demonstrate Spain’s increasing strength as a source of fine wine – of icons old and new. Some of them command exorbitant prices – but it’s worth pooling with a group of friends to try a bottle at least once. You won’t regret it.

The robustness of this list, and the fact that other names – such as Dominio del Aguila’s Canta la Perdiz from Ribera del Duero or Terroir Al Límit’s Les Manyes Priorat – would have been included, space allowing, shows how the last 150 years have been punctuated by chapters of outstanding evolution in the narrative of Spanish winemaking.

Perhaps inevitably heavy on Rioja ‘first growths’, this line-up nevertheless reflects evolution and change. The emergence of Priorat in the 1990s and the rediscovery of Gredos (and Garnacha) in the 2010s have questioned the attributes of modern classics – and it’s this self-questioning that makes Spain such an enduring source of wine discovery and fascination.

Spanish Icons: CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja

First vintage: 1917

I don’t know if Imperial is our best wine, but it represents our soul,’ says Víctor Urrutia Ybarra, CEO of CVNE.

‘It was the first “great wine” of Rioja. Until Imperial came around, Rioja estates – including ourselves – mostly produced one wine, with a focus on quantity. In my opinion, Imperial was the first wine produced with excellence in mind, capturing the essence of Rioja Alta.’

More than 100 years after its first vintage, Imperial endures as a symbol of classical modern Rioja – and of the prestige of CVNE, founded in 1879 in Haro by brothers Eusebio and Raimundo Real de Asúa, of whom Urrutia is a direct descendant.

The fruit used to produce Imperial – in selected vintages only – hails from 42ha of estate-owned plots in the villages of Villalba, Briones and Torremontalbo planted with Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo (Cariñena) and Garnacha.

Vinification takes place in a dedicated winery within CVNE’s compound in Haro, with each plot fermented separately in French oak foudres. Barrel ageing takes place in the atmospheric Eiffel cellar, designed by the French engineer and built in 1909.

When discussing the wine’s evolution, Urrutia says: ‘Imperial hasn’t changed much. The only significant adjustment might be the use of oak: we now use exclusively French oak, while 100 years ago we used American oak. But overall, we don’t seek changes.’

Having staged multiple extensive vertical tastings, Urritia says that, for him, the best examples of Imperial are from the 1940s and ’50s. ‘Our goal is to produce a [Imperial] wine like the 1947, ’52 or ’59… with incredible acidity and a lot of structure,’ he says. ‘Our future is in our past.’

The wine to try before you die

CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja 2017 – 96pts

£40 (ib)-£65 Burnett & Herbert, Cuchet & Co, Davy’s, Falcon Vintners, Farr Vintners, Honest Grapes, Primitus, The Wine Society, VinQuinn, Vintage Cellars US$90-$106 Binny’s, Gillette Ridge, Station Plaza, Total Wine & More, W&J Wine, Yiannis

85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, fermented in small oak vats with malolactic in concrete, then aged in new and second-use oak barrels, 70% French plus American. A bit coiled upon opening, this opens slowly in the glass, revealing beautiful nuance, fragrant herbal details and savoury complexity underneath the brooding restraint.

Top notes of vanilla, charred oak, camphor and preserved cherry. Fresh and exact on the palate, with dark chocolate and coffee beans lining the muscular tannins. Very long finish, supported by a firm acid backbone.

Drink: 2025-2045 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva

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Opportunistic collectors have been replenishing their cellars with blue-chip Burgundy wines at lower prices, but the market’s near-term outlook has remained uncertain. Buyer interest in certain top-tier Burgundy producers picked up in 2024, within a challenging fine wine trading environment, according to some merchants.

Bordeaux Index reported ‘a big recovery’ in trading volumes of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) and Rousseau wines in the first nine months of 2024, for example.

Geraint Carter, of the investment team at Bordeaux Index, cited the merchant’s access to ‘impressive single-owner collections’, but also said price corrections on top-end Burgundy have ‘created attractive entry points for buyers to restock their cellars’.

Blue-chip Burgundy prices dropped by an average of about a quarter in the two years to 30 September 2024, according to data from Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform (see chart below). Prices remained 21% higher than in September 2018, though.

Matthew Hemming MW, group wine director at Vinum Fine Wines, with offices in Singapore, Taiwan and the UK, said many established Burgundy names on the market have seen a bounce.

Top names such as Rousseau and Roumier have a pedigree, and ‘the market recognises the [wines’] fundamental quality’, Hemming said. ‘I think [they] have dropped off in price to a point where people were prepared to come back in. And in the last few weeks and months, we’ve seen volume of trade in things like Rousseau really pick up again.’

Some data offered a more cautious view of Burgundy trading, amid a mixture of subdued wine market atmosphere and macroeconomic uncertainty. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said in November the bid-to-offer ratio for wines in its Burgundy 150 index was 0.14, down from 0.3 in September.

Following the recent downturn, it said its analysis concluded that several DRC wines may fall further in price, particularly Echezeaux.

Yet, it added: ‘There is some indication that Romanée-Conti and La Tâche are closer to their price floors.’

It highlighted DRC’s Romanée-Conti as a potential opportunity for buyers with enough capital. Taking a long view, Liv-ex said all DRC wines ‘have seen dramatic price increases over the past 20 years’.

The Bordeaux Index view

Burgundy has been an interesting segment of the wine market across 2023-2024, with the outsized price gains from 2021-2022 partially reversing.

While this has at times seemed slightly dramatic, the context that top Burgundy prices remain firmly above their 2021 levels suggests the contrary.

The noteworthy dynamic from 2024 in particular is that falling prices have catalysed buying activity (in contrast to Champagne, for example, where the price pattern isn’t dissimilar).

This is because Burgundy is very much a specific and distinct part of the market, where the supply-demand dynamics that govern all wine pricing are especially acute. Even in a period of falling prices, buyers are aware that pristine top Burgundy is rare, when global demand is considered, and therefore opportunities to buy attractively will not necessarily be repeated.

January will see the 2023 vintage Burgundy en primeur campaign, likely at pricing similar to the excellent 2022 vintage. This won’t trouble the top blue-chip wines but will no doubt be more problematic for the tiers below, where buyer appetite is overstated in up-markets and resale liquidity is poor – they are wines that simply look expensive even at today’s levels.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Proceeds down at smaller Hospices auction

Sales at the 164th Hospices de Beaune charity auction in November hit €14.4m (£12m), excluding buyer’s premium, host Sotheby’s has said. That’s down from sales of nearly €23.3m in 2023.

Burgundy’s smaller 2024 harvest was significant; the latest auction featured 449 lots, versus 770 a year earlier. Sotheby’s said the average price per barrel sold in 2024 rose slightly, to €31,540.

It also reported a record number of registrants for the sale, and participants in 32 countries. The ‘presidents’ barrel’ – a special charity lot that contained Beaune 1er cru Les Bressandes in 2024 – sold for €360,000 to Brazil’s Alaor Pereira Lino, of merchant Anima Vinum, who has created a museum for Hospices de Beaune wines.

One participant donated an extra €100,000 to the presidents’ barrel’s chosen charities: Médecins Sans Frontières and the Global Gift Foundation.

Tignanello under the hammer

Bidders have competed for a piece of Tuscan vinous history at a Christie’s auction of Tignanello wines sourced directly from the winery, and featuring the debut 1971 vintage.

Two single-bottle lots of Tignanello 1971 fetched £813 and £750, including buyer’s premium, versus a pre-sale high estimate of £500 per lot. Christie’s held the London auction to mark 50 years since Italy’s Antinori winemaking family first released Tignanello, a Sangiovese-dominant blend that includes classic ‘Bordeaux’ grape varieties, but sitting outside the Chianti Classico denomination.

The wine is today considered a pioneer of the Super Tuscan movement. ‘The saleroom was buzzing with many bidders,’ said Tim Triptree MW, the international director for Christie’s wines & spirits department.

All lots sold, he said. A nine-magnum lot spanning every vintage produced between 2000 and 2009 sold for £5,250, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £4,000); there is no Tignanello 2002 vintage. A 225-litre barrel of Tignanello 2024, scheduled for release in 2027 and to be bottled in a format of the buyer’s choice, sold for £47,000 (estimate: £24,000 to £50,000).

Three double magnums (3x300cl) of Tignanello 1999, 2000 and 2001 sold for £5,000 (high estimate: £2,800). Marchese Piero Antinori described Tignanello as a ‘milestone in Tuscan winemaking’, and ‘the wine that I’m probably most attached to’.

Prices for top Super Tuscan wines on the secondary market have dipped since late 2022, but remained historically high after strong gains prior to this (see November 2024 issue).

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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• Wine investment: La Place releases into tricky market
• Wine investment: Dom Pérignon 2015 released

Happy New Year!

Let’s talk about death.

Don’t worry, this column isn’t going to be relentlessly depressing. I wouldn’t do that to you in January. Quite the opposite, I hope.

But you can’t deny that when you’re into wine, the shadow of the reaper just keeps popping up.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that wine collecting tends to be something that typically only interests people in their 30s and older. You need to be ready and willing to play the long game. The longest game.

Thirst-inducing

It’s a peculiar hobby really. Let’s consider the 1990 vintage – a lovely year, from Hermitage to Pauillac to Piedmont. If a year like that came around again next year, I would snap up as much as I could en primeur.

Then all I’d need to do is wait 35 years for it to reach its sweet spot. I’d be in my 80s by then. I’d certainly hope to still be fighting fit but… it’s far from a given.

I was lucky enough to start collecting in my mid-20s, and now – finally – some of the Hermitage I bought is now ready to drink.

A crucial moment for any collector – the long, parched wait is over, and the drinking can begin. Finally – it feels almost miraculous after so many years – some bottles are good to go. And you marvel at your younger self for making at least some good decisions.

Sure, you could just buy mature vintages. Skip the cellaring. But it’s not quite the same as buying young wines and ageing them yourself.

When you’ve invested so much patience in these specific bottles, they no longer just contain wine; they contain hope.

And when that hope is repaid, they taste all the better.

See Matt Walls’ top 10 wines of 2024 here

Vinous lifespans

Death stalks the vineyard too. Vines are living things after all, each with their own allotted time on this earth. It’s often noted that their lifespan reflects that of a man or woman.

Vines are vigorous in youth, generating abundant fruit – if not always the best quality. They mature at 20 to 30 years of age, and they tend to give their best between this point and 60 to 70 years. As they get older, they offer less, but what they produce is deep and valuable.

And, like people, they might live even longer if not affected by disease, stress or pests. But they’ll end up looking pretty gnarly.

All this talk of death can make working with centuries-old estates somehow reassuring.

Their long endurance puts our ‘three score years and ten’ in context. It brings comforting thoughts of lineage, of generational transfer.

But let me just swoop in here, cackling, to remind us that all this is an illusion. Winery buildings stand strong and labels stay the same, but wine is a product of a winemaker, or winemaking team.

When a parent passes an estate on to their child, the wine is never the same. It will change – subtly, or perhaps dramatically – with every generation, with every winemaker.

We know this of course. That’s why the bottles that we covet most of all are by great winemakers that have departed – in the Rhône, for example, which producers fetch higher prices than Gentaz-Dervieux, Noël Verset and Henri Bonneau? God rest their souls.

Future investment

I wonder why. Perhaps we know the stocks will never be replenished, unlike the output of the living, so we must grab the remaining bottle while we can.

Or do we just pile in because we hope the price will rise on the secondary market, like ghouls feasting on the dead?

Some of us feel that drinking these antique wines somehow plugs us into the past, extending our own lives backwards, if only for an evening – showing us a vision of how things used to be. In the good old days of hoes, horses and hard winters.

Every bottle is a memento mori. But despite all this – and the fact that the average cellar looks like Nosferatu’s bedroom, all cobwebs and dusty wooden boxes – wine collecting is far from a morbid affair.

In fact, it’s an investment in your own – and your loved ones’ – future happiness.

Every purchase comes with an unspoken statement: ‘whether it be five, 10 or 20 years, I intend to be alive when this bottle is ready to drink – and I gift this to my future self.’

So open, drink and celebrate those good decisions you made in the past. And bank many Happy New Years to come with another case or two.

Related articles

• Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020: Best-value wines
• Walls: The importance of drinking windows over scores
• White Châteauneuf-du-Pape: 20 of the best

Legendary wines have gone under the hammer during the auction houses’ autumn sales season, from Hong Kong to the US.

Château Mouton Rothschild 1945, a Decanter Wine Legend, was the top-selling lot at the Christie’s Epic Cellar II auction in Hong Kong in early October. Twelve bottles in their original wooden case (OWC) sold for HK$1.25m (£123,321), including buyer’s premium (pre-sale high estimate: HK$1.1m).

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti 1990 achieved the second highest price, at HK$937,500 for six bottles (OWC; high e: HK$900,000).

Despite reports of cautious buyer sentiment across the market, US auction house Hart Davis Hart said its two-day auction in late September was 100% sold: all 3,174 lots found buyers.

France’s 1961 red wine vintage was a highlight: 12 bottles of Château Figeac 1961 sold for US$19,120 (£14,622; high e:$8,500), and one bottle of Paul Jaboulet Aîné’s lauded Hermitage, La Chapelle 1961 sold for $8,365 (high e: $6,500).

Also in the US, Sotheby’s recently offered its latest instalment of The Epicurean’s Atlas series, featuring wines from collector Pierre Chen. Several white Burgundy lots starred, including 12 bottles of Coche-Dury, Meursault Perrières 1999, which sold for $50,000 (high e: $50,000).

In the UK, meanwhile, merchant Berry Bros & Rudd announced that it will hold wine and spirits auctions for collectors worldwide, beginning in autumn 2024.

NB: final sale prices include buyer’s premium.

Premium wine and spirit releases

From top Champagne to luxury Japanese whisky, several fine wine and spirits launches of significance have been announced in recent weeks.

Rare Champagne is releasing its 2012 vintage, as reported by Decanter‘s Champagne correspondent, Tom Hewson, who gave it a score of 96-points.

The 2012 is an excellent year and Rare’s cellar master, Emilien Boutillat, likened the wine to the celebrated 2002 vintage.

Elsewhere, Champagne Louis Roederer said it was releasing five vintages of ‘Late Release Rosé Vintage’, from 1995 to 1999, after more than 20 years of ageing in its cellars.

The wines carry a recommended retail price of £315 per bottle, said Roederer-owned distributor Maisons Marques & Domaines in the UK.

In spirits, House of Suntory said it was releasing 400 bottles of ‘ultra-luxury’ Hibiki 40 Year Old Japanese whisky at US$35,000 per bottle.

Top Super Tuscans stay strong

Prices for top Super Tuscans have been relatively resilient in a challenging fine wine market, suggests new data.

An index of Sassicaia, Tignanello, Ornellaia and Solaia wines has fallen 6% since peaking around the end of 2022, having risen strongly in the prior five years, said international merchant Bordeaux Index, based on executed transaction data.

It said the broader market, meanwhile, has fallen 20% since prices peaked two years ago (see chart below). ‘[Super Tuscan] prices have come off less than for some other regions,’ observed Matthew O’Connell, CEO of Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform.

Data from Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, also shows its Italy 100 index – tracking Super Tuscan and Piedmont wines – dropped 9.6% in two years to 30 September, while the broader Liv-ex 1000 fell 22%.

O’Connell said fairly limited supplies and ongoing demand have underpinned pricing on top-tier SuperTuscans. ‘It’s like the situation with a few [Bordeaux] Super Seconds,’ he said. ‘There’s good brand recognition, including among new entrants to the wine market.’

He also highlighted the wines’ strong presence on restaurant lists.

O’Connell added that the best vintages can command big premiums. The 2021-vintage wines, released this year with hallowed 100-point scores in some cases, could be worth watching closely in this context.

It’s early days, though. Liv-ex said Sassicaia 2021 traded at £3,114 (12x75cl in bond) in March, but recent trading activity ‘indicates it may be stabilising around the £2,500-£2,600 mark, flat on its ex-London release price’.

Most Liv-ex fine wine indices declined by small degrees in September, suggesting the market remains in choppy waters.

Alex Turnbull, head of private and online sales at London-based merchant Jeroboams, said: ‘After Bordeaux, Tuscany was our second biggest-selling region in September by value.

‘A string of excellent vintages, high scores and genuine value in release prices has led wines like Ornellaia, Masseto and Solaia to sell out quickly on release and remain on strict allocation.’

Turnbull also highlighted growing demand for other SuperTuscan wines. O’Connell said active trading revolves around a tight-knit group of top names, however.

See Decanter Premium for our expert Collectors’ Guide to Tuscany

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Super Tuscans have enjoyed a great increase in market awareness and demand over the last decade – this was especially pronounced during 2020 and 2022 when the prices of Sassicaia, Solaia, Ornellaia and Tignanello rose by more than 60%. The subsequent retracement in pricing has been less than 10%.

The ‘brand’ following for these wines is high and this likely explains both the scale of the uptick and the resilience of this category in the recent market downturn.

Perhaps the missing piece of the puzzle is that available volumes are of course small, for there are only these four names with such buyer awareness, and restaurants and similar establishments take a substantial quantity from the marketplace soon after release.

So far so good, but the strength of the brand following for this small group is a more balanced point for the rest of the SuperTuscan category where demand has not followed, despite the high quality to be found here.

This applies to Super Tuscans (international blends) as well as top Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino wines, with only very few exceptions. There is still remarkable value to be found in those categories.

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Marketwatch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

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Fantastic Chardonnay can be found worldwide, but Burgundy remains the benchmark and a must-have for any serious white wine collector.

Some of the world’s greatest white wines are forged in the Côte d’Or, while the splendour of Chablis and rise of the Mâconnais attest to Burgundy’s rich variety of terroir-driven producers.

As with red Burgundy, a global clamour for small quantities of wines from the best vineyards and producers often translates to tight allocations.

Prices on the secondary market remain at historically high levels, although a recent fine-wine market downturn may present collectors with opportunities.

This guide focuses mainly on the white wines of the Côte d’Or, drawing on new expert commentary and exclusive reporting for Decanter Premium subscribers to highlight recent developments, ways to approach the region and its momentum on the fine wine market.

A downloadable PDF version of the White Burgundy Collector’s Guide is available here

White Burgundy in the Côte d’Or landscape

Burgundy’s patchwork quilt of vineyard ‘climats’ is a treasure trove for collectors, reflecting geological diversity and centuries of viticultural refinement.

Many prized white wines are made in the Côte de Beaune, the southern half of the famous Côte d’Or, around the villages (communes) of Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.

Others hail from the Corton hill, just north of Beaune itself, while some white wines are also produced in the Côte de Nuits, such as Domaine Comte George de Vogüé’s Musigny Blanc.

Producers typically make a variety of wines in a vineyard-based classification system led by grand cru sites, followed by a premier cru tier, village-denominated bottlings and regional ‘Bourgogne’ wines.

A Bourgogne Côte d’Or category was created in 2017, sitting above the general regional Bourgogne level.

Montrachet and family

Montrachet is a hallowed site for white wine, once tended by Cistercian monks and today spanning eight hectares shared between Puligny and Chassagne (where it’s known as ‘Le Montrachet’). Prices can range from several hundred to several thousand per bottle – of any currency of your choice.

The neighbouring grands crus using the Montrachet name are also highly regarded.

Charles Curtis MW, Decanter’s Burgundy correspondent, said of Domaine Leflaive’s Bâtard-Montrachet 2019: ‘Balance is always the hallmark of the Bâtard from Leflaive as the fresh minerality of the Puligny side plays against the luxurious ripe, almost tropical notes of the south-facing Chassagne side of the vineyard.’

Meursault magic

Meursault has no grand cru, but its premier cru Perrières is often considered at this level.

Curtis recently tasted Domaine Roulot’s 2022-vintage Perrières (96 points) for Decanter Premium: ‘This is a breathtaking, complex wine, showing notes of lime peel to coconut water, passionfruit and mint, with a savoury, almost gamey undercurrent and a pronounced saline minerality,’ he said, adding that savvy collectors will wait at least a decade to uncork it.

Prominent white Burgundy producers

Domaine Coche-Dury is a leading name, and its village-level Meursault was the most searched-for white Burgundy on Wine-Searcher.com in September 2024.

Domaine Leflaive has five spots in the top 10. It is a revered name and pioneer of biodynamic farming – spearheaded by the late Anne-Claude Leflaive.

Her nephew, Brice de la Morandière, has continued her legacy.

Such lists can only ever scratch the surface of what Burgundy offers, but other key producers not highlighted in the ranking above include:

• Domaine d’Auvenay – part of the Leroy stable
• Domaine des Comtes Lafon
• Ramonet
• Roulot
• Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey
• Henri Boillot
• William Fèvre (now in the DBR Lafite portfolio)
• Billaud-Simon

More names to know

Curtis highlighted several more producers for collectors to consider, in addition to the well-known names cited above.

‘I think all [these producers] can be trusted throughout their range, if the exalted realms of grand cru and Meursault Perrières are out of reach.’

The ranges of négociant-producer houses are also worth exploring, such as Puligny-based Olivier Leflaive, plus also Louis Latour, Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, Bouchard Père & Fils and Faiveley.

Three developments to watch

Bouchard Père & Fils: New owner Artémis Domaines, the fine-wine group controlled by French billionaire François Pinault, plans to put more focus on prestigious wines, Artémis’ MD recently told La Revue du Vin de France.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) in Corton-Charlemagne: This vaunted producer released its third vintage (2021) of Corton-Charlemagne grand cru earlier in 2024, having leased 2.9ha from Bonneau du Martray – split between the En Charlemagne and Le Charlemagne climats.

Domaine Pierre Vincent: Domaine Leflaive general manager Pierre Vincent is to leave at the end of 2024 to focus on his namesake winery, after acquiring Domaine des Terres de Velle with two friends. ‘A recent tasting of the inaugural vintages raised hopes of an exciting new domaine to follow,’ Curtis wrote for Decanter.

DRC Montrachet Grand Cru production

A snapshot of yields in the three most recently released vintages of DRC, Montrachet, sourced from the offer brochures of Corney & Barrow, exclusive UK agent for DRC.

2021 (released in 2024): 13.5 hectolitres per hectare (hl/ha) | 102 cases (12x75cl)

2020: 40.8hl/ha | 295 cases

2019: 24hl/ha | 184 cases

Further back, severe frost in 2016 led to seven producers, including Leflaive and DRC, pooling grapes to make two barrels of Montrachet grand cru, named L’Exceptionnelle Vendanges des Sept Domaines.

Top white Burgundy vintages

Great winemakers can deliver sumptuous wines irrespective of vintage conditions, and Burgundy’s sheer size further impedes generalisation.

‘In Chablis, you’re closer to Troyes in Champagne than you are to Dijon, let alone Beaune, Chalon or Mâcon,’ wrote Decanter contributing editor Andrew Jefford in 2018.

Caveats aside, recent vintages represent a good run of form for quality. Decanter ratings show four stars (out of five) for white Burgundy in 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2018, rising to 4.5 stars in 2020.

Vineyard positioning can aid winemaking skill. In praising Bruno Colin’s Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er Cru Chaumées 2020 (93pts), Curtis noted the site’s east-facing aspect at the top of the slope, with thin, stony soils over limestone.

‘This is a great terroir for a hot year such as 2020,’ he wrote.

Five Decanter five-star vintages: 2014, 2002, 1995, 1989 and 1969.

Rollercoaster yields

Yields can vary significantly between vintages in Burgundy. ‘These sudden variations seem to have become more pronounced in recent years,’ said the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) earlier in 2024.

Hail, frost and mildew pose particular hazards. Climate change research has found extreme weather is becoming more common globally, while a France-based study suggested warmer winters can mean earlier growing seasons – potentially leaving more vine buds exposed to spring frost.

Buying the wines

Larger crops may improve collectors’ chances of securing certain wines, yet the most sought-after bottlings are often tightly allocated.

‘Sourcing top white Burgundy can be a challenge due to the quantities produced,’ said Curtis. ‘If you see something attractive, it’s important to jump in and commit.’

Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at UK merchant Corney & Barrow, the UK agent for Domaine Leflaive and DRC, said the merchant tries to walk a fine line: ‘It’s this age-old balance between supporting people who have supported us, and also embracing new customers.

‘We do tend to try and use the bigger vintages to welcome new people in. That’s something we want to do.’

He said Corney & Barrow planned to offer Domaine Leflaive 2023 wines en primeur from early December 2024.

Key dates

November: The annual Hospices de Beaune auction is a major event in the calendar.

January: The traditional en primeur (futures) release period for many Burgundy wines. The relatively large 2023 vintage is next up. Timings vary, though, and some wines are released later.

Decanter’s Chablis 2023 Report: Published in December 2024

Decanter’s Burgundy 2023 Report: Published in January 2025

Debate over release prices

Rising release prices in recent years partly reflect higher costs for wineries, but have also caused debate, as noted by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, in its Burgundy 2022 en primeur report earlier in 2024.

It said consumers still pounced on the highly regarded 2022-vintage wines, and most producers kept price rises to a minimum, but it also warned that challenging market conditions mean ‘the gap is widening between [producers’] release prices and what buyers are willing to pay’.

Hunting for value

Value is relative, of course. Liv-ex’s Burgundy 2022 report said Chablis has the lowest average prices in the grand cru tier.

More generally, strategies range from shopping further down a well-regarded producer’s range, looking to less- prominent areas – where some top producers also operate – and unearthing under-the-radar winemaking talent.

Mercurey in the Côte Chalonnaise or the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune / Nuits are geographic areas to consider. Corney & Barrow’s Hargrove cited single-vineyard wines from the Mâconnais to the south.

‘Those are certainly things I would push people towards,’ he advised.

In 2020, 22 ‘climats’ in the Mâconnais’ appellation of Pouilly-Fuissé gained premier cru status.

Buying wines on the secondary market

Good purchasing methods include merchants’ broking services, as well as digital trading platforms, such as Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade or Berry Bros & Rudd BBC, and major auction houses, including Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams, Zachys or iDealwine.

‘When buying wine on the secondary market, it is best to ask for photographs to check the colour (which should be commensurate with age),’ said Curtis, who is also founder of consultancy group WineAlpha and former head of wine for Christie’s in the Americas and Asia.

‘I avoid anything with signs of seepage, and whenever possible I purchase full cases in their original packaging (carton or wooden case).’

It’s important to check a wine’s ownership history, provenance and condition as much as possible before purchase. This can affect a wine’s cellaring potential or future value.

Reputable merchants and auction houses authenticate wines, but collectors should also be watchful for counterfeits. If the price looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

The premox issue

White Burgundy wines have had widely publicised challenges with premature oxidation (premox). This appeared particularly prevalent between 1995 and 2005, as Curtis wrote in Decanter magazine’s October 2024 issue.

‘Whites from Burgundy darkened and traded their fruit for caramel aromas far too early,’ he wrote. ‘From the mid-1990s, the scourge was frequent, if sporadic.’

The extent and causes of the issue have been much debated, but incidences of premox have since been greatly reduced, according to Curtis and several merchants.

‘Most of the top estates and the conscientious producers have reduced or eliminated this issue through a variety of methods, and in general I am much more sanguine about this now than I was 10 or even five years ago,’ Curtis said via email.

Still, it is something for collectors to be aware of, especially if looking to buy wines from those affected older vintages.

Trading focused on blue-chip producers

Expanding global demand for finite supplies of top Burgundy wines has been a key fine wine market narrative in the early 21st century.

Opinions differ on the size of the secondary market. Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at international merchant Bordeaux Index said a relatively small group of blue-chip Burgundy producers have a global following, but that liquidity falls away below this level.

He said there were some 10 white Burgundy producers in this top-tier category, compared to about 20 for red Burgundy.

White Burgundy’s secondary market performance

Several data sources suggest prices on some of the most prominent white Burgundy wines are significantly higher than five years ago.

The table below shows examples based on Wine-Searcher worldwide average retail prices, ex-tax.

Fine wine market hits choppy waters

Despite a wider rising trend, the average prices of Coche-Dury, DRC and Raveneau have dipped on Wine- Searcher versus October 2022.

There have been reports of subdued fine wine trading in general, with buyers appearing more cautious in a climate of higher interest rates and challenging macroeconomic conditions.

While the secondary market has a track record of long-term growth, prices have recently fallen back following a period of strong gains on some wines – especially on blue-chip Burgundy and Champagne.

Liv-ex’s Burgundy 150 index fell more steeply than its parent index, the Liv-ex 1000, over the two years to 30 September.

It has still risen further on a five-year basis, though.

White Burgundy outperforming red

White wines in the Burgundy 150 index have outperformed reds since the start of 2022, according to Liv-ex.

After gains for both, from October 2022 to 31 August 2024, the Burgundy 150’s white index dropped around 13%, while reds dropped nearly 30%.

Online auction house iDealwine remarked on a similar trend. It said: ‘For over a decade now, scarcity and strong demand has protected fine Burgundy from market fluctuations.

‘In the post-Covid price softening that we have witnessed at auction, we can see that this time, white Burgundy has been largely immune where red has not (prices fell 35% last year for red, 15% for white).’

O’Connell added: ‘When the Burgundy market went up in 2018 and 2019, white Burgundy didn’t follow so much.

‘In the 2021 and 2022 market increase, some white Burgundy names massively outperformed everything.’

Auction demand for white Burgundy

Charles Antin, global head of wine auctions at Zachys, said there is strong buyer demand for older vintages in the right circumstances.

‘I think while people shy away from some vintages of white Burgundy due to the infamous premox, these are still considered the greatest white wines in the world and, if there is confidence from the buying base about the condition of what is in the bottle, the bidding will be aggressive.’

Domaine d’Auvernay leads the way

‘[Domaine] d’Auvenay is still far and away the most expensive white Burgundy we sell,’ said Antin. ‘Of the top 10 white Burgundy lots sold in 2024 [so far], eight are d’Auvenay.’

iDealwine said d’Auvenay constituted its top three white Burgundy lots of 2024 so far, based on hammer selling price:

• Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2005 (1x75cl) | €16,902

• Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 1999 (1x75cl) | €10,266

• Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 1999 (1x75cl) | €10,141

It was a similar story at Sotheby’s’ ‘Live in the Vines’ auction in Beaune in July 2024, featuring wines from collector Pierre Chen. Highlights included:

• Six bottles of d’Auvenay, Chevalier- Montrachet Grand Cru 2009 | sold for €106,250, including buyer’s premium |

(estimate: €85,000 – €130,000)

• Three bottles of d’Auvenay, Bâtard- Montrachet Grand Cru 2014 | sold for €50,000 (e: €40,000 – €60,000)

• Three bottles of DRC, Montrachet Grand Cru 2007 | sold for €47,500 (e: €19,000 – €24,000)

George Lacey, head of wine for Sotheby’s Asia, told Decanter shortly after the sale: ‘When you offer older vintages, in good condition, with exceptional provenance which are rare and not so frequently seen in the market, there’s clearly still great demand. That was really encouraging for us to see.’

Investment: Weigh up the costs

Professional storage with temperature and humidity control can affect a wine’s future value or cellaring potential. There may also be fees associated with selling wines.

Check up-to-date prices, provenance and condition carefully and, if you’re interested in the investment side, seek professional advice.

Ups and downs

Changes to Liv-ex Market Price on white wines in the Burgundy 150 index. Two-year data is updated weekly and runs to 04/10/2024, but five-year data is updated monthly and runs to 30/09/24.

Wine investment: Six things to consider

1. Some of the most prominent fine wines on the secondary market have a track record of increasing in value over time, particularly as available supplies diminish, but nothing is guaranteed. The pool of investment-grade wines is also relatively small.

2. Professional storage in bond is considered important. A wine’s condition and provenance can affect value.

3. Wine investment is unregulated. Only buy wine from reputable sources, and check provenance and condition as carefully as possible before buying.

4. Factor in costs, such as for storage, and possible selling fees. Storage is often charged at a fixed annual rate.

5. Some auction houses have previously told Decanter that full cases tend to be more in-demand, although limited-production wines may be released or allocated in smaller quantities – such as three-bottle cases.

6. If unsure, always seek professional advice.

Report by Chris Mercer for Decanter Premium. A freelance journalist and former editor of Decanter.com, Chris has written about the global fine wine market for more than a decade

Click here to join Decanter Premium now and enjoy instant access to the latest Bordeaux 2020 En Primeur Collector’s guide, as well as past Collector’s Guide’s including, Left Bank Bordeaux, Napa and Piedmont and Rhône.

Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

A downloadable PDF version of the White Burgundy Collector’s Guide is available here

Related articles

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• Collector’s Guide: Right Bank Bordeaux
• Collector’s Guide: Left Bank Bordeaux
• Collector’s guide: The rise of Piedmont
• Collector’s guide: Napa Valley wine

Dom Pérignon 2015 has been one of the latest major releases on a fine wine market that has largely continued to see prices under pressure. Dom Pérignon has been a major star of Champagne’s greater presence on the secondary market in recent years, and the new launch follows the release of the 2013 vintage in early 2023.

UK merchants offered Dom Pérignon 2015 for between £848 and £875 per six-bottle case in bond (ib). That’s below the release price of Dom Pérignon 2013, according to Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, but it also said the 2013 vintage had fallen about 15% in price in the past 12 months.

On Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform, Dom Pérignon 2012 and 2013 were offered below £800 per six-bottle case. Liv-ex data suggested secondary market prices in general remained under pressure. The headline Liv-ex 1000 index fell 6.3% in value in six months to 30 June, and its Champagne 50 sub-index dropped 6.6%.

‘It’s a sign of the times that Dom Pérignon doesn’t sell out immediately,’ said Alex Turnbull, head of private and online sales at UK-based merchant Jeroboams. ‘We have seen stable demand [for the 2015 vintage], but go back three years and Dom Pérignon sold out within the hour.’

Turnbull also said that Dom Pérignon owner LVMH (Moët Hennessy) has ‘steadily increased the release price over the years, and so it doesn’t offer the same value on release that it used to’.

Vintage Ports command record prices at auction

Legendary vintage Ports from a UK private collection have generated strong buyer interest at a Christie’s auction in London.

Christie’s recently reported new auction price records (measured in terms of price per single bottle) for several vintage Ports in the sale. These included high-quality bottlings such as Dow’s 1924, of which a two-bottle lot sold for £6,875 including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £1,200), and Fonseca 1934. Two six-bottle lots of the Fonseca 1934 each fetched £9,375 (high estimate: £4,500 per lot).

The Ports were from Raby castle cellars in County Durham, near Darlington. ‘The exceptional cellar conditions, cool and damp, have ensured that all vintage Port bottles in this collection are in perfect condition,’ said Edwin Vos, senior director and international head of Christie’s wine and spirits department, and Noah May, Christie’s head of wine and spirits for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Provenance pulls in the bids

Auction house Sotheby’s has recently reported strong bidding on certain blue-chip Burgundy wines, but the wider market picture for the region remains mixed.

Sotheby’s said more than a third of lots sold in its Burgundy-focused ‘Live in the Vines’ auction in Beaune, in the heart of the Côte d’Or, on 2 July achieved prices comfortably above pre-sale high estimates.

Asia-based bidders were particularly prominent in the sale, which was part of the Epicurean’s Atlas series of auctions featuring wines from noted collector Pierre Chen. Sotheby’s also reported new record auction prices on certain wines (see wines, below).

For example, it said a three-bottle lot of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), Montrachet 2007 sold for the equivalent of more than €15,800 per bottle, including buyer’s premium – about 50% above the previous record bottle price.

George Lacey, Sotheby’s head of wine Asia, told Decanter: ‘When you offer older vintages in good condition with exceptional provenance – which are rare and not so frequently seen in the market – there’s clearly still great demand. That was really encouraging for us to see. People were really competing for those wines.’

Nick Pegna, Sotheby’s global head of wines & spirits, cautioned that the group’s focus on older wines that are ready to drink means that its results are not necessarily representative of the market in its entirety.

Lacey added: ‘People are willing to spend money on great wines. But, they are perhaps looking to replenish cellars or to buy wines that they can get immediate enjoyment from.’ In general terms, Lacey said Burgundy prices were ‘no longer sliding’, but were down versus their peak two years ago.

UK-based merchant Bordeaux Index said top-tier Burgundy prices were down by about 10% in the first half of 2024, albeit the price drift has slowed in recent months. It added that prices were still around 150% higher than a decade ago, on average.

Bordeaux Index pointed out that trading has improved this year on ‘bellwether’ producers DRC and Armand Rousseau, too. Burgundy wines now feature on the group’s recently relaunched LiveTrade online trading platform.

Data released by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, showed that its index for DRC wines rose slightly in value earlier this year, before dipping again in June.

Sotheby’s Live in the Vines: six blue-chip Burgundy highlights

Six examples of Burgundy lots in the Sotheby’s Live in the Vines sale on 2 July that saw a record auction price for that specific wine (records were measured in terms of price per 75cl, except for Lot 130, which is a record price per magnum of this wine):

LOT 200 Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 1990 12x75cl. Sold for €100,000 – Estimate: €40,000-€60,000

LOT 202 Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin Grand Cru 2009 12x75cl. Sold for €68,750 – Estimate: €40,000-€55,000

LOT 4 Domaine Leroy, Chambertin Grand Cru 2011 3x75cl. Sold for €50,000 – Estimate: €26,000-€38,000

LOT 140 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Montrachet Grand Cru 2007 3x75cl. Sold for €47,500 – Estimate: €19,000-€24,000

LOT 130 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, La Tâche Grand Cru 2005 1x150cl. Sold for €35,000 | Estimate: €16,000-€20,000

LOT 1 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Echezeaux Grand Cru 2005 3x75cl. Sold for €30,000 – Estimate: €6,500-€9,500

Data Source: Sotheby’s. ‘Sold for’ prices include buyer’s premium.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The net performance of top wines from Burgundy since 2021 remains very positive, with gains of 60% or more across 2022, especially, now having settled into more of a context of above-40% after the market having softened across H2 2023 and in 2024.

This can be summarised succinctly as a very skewed supply-demand imbalance being replaced by a much more balanced position – naturally this has seen the highest degree of correction among those blue-chip names which had particularly outperformed, but the picture overall is that most owners of top Burgundy have seen substantial gains in value in their collection.

At Bordeaux Index we have seen prices largely stabilise (albeit some auction performance is notably lacklustre) and we expect price growth to resume over the medium term; but the timing for this is unclear, given the discretionary nature of buying demand.

Our observations relate very much to blue-chip Burgundy, though – the top 20-25 names – as we see the segment(s) below, high-quality wines though they are, as being overpriced and without a firm buyer base for consumption of the wines.

Related articles

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Highly rated recent releases from Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico to coastal Bolgheri and the understated Toscana IGT denominations have underlined why Tuscany is considered a treasure trove for collectors at many levels.

Top Super Tuscans have also risen to greater prominence on the secondary market, despite fine wine prices and trading in general going off the boil in the past 12 to 18 months.

This introductory fine wine market guide focuses on Tuscan red wines. It aims to give collectors information on some of the key names and developments by synthesising exclusive recent reports for Decanter Premium, as well as market data.

Tuscany 101: Key styles

Sangiovese comes in different guises, but remains Tuscany’s key grape. It’s a driving force of Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and the sole star of Brunello di Montalcino – three prestigious DOCG zones (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in Italy’s wine classification system.

Natural tannins and acidity lend the finest Sangiovese wines great ageing potential, while a complex flavour profile can encompass wild red berries, dark cherry, earthy, herbal and liquorice notes. Yet, some of Tuscany’s top wines focus on international grapes, notably Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

This is one of the defining features of many prominent Super Tuscans – albeit there are exceptions – and today these highly prized wines commonly fall within Toscana IGT and Bolgheri DOC denominations.

New director at Ornellaia

Ornellaia and Masseto have named Marco Balsimelli as their new production director. His appointment follows the exit of Axel Heinz to Château Lascombes last year. ‘I will vinify around 10% of the blend [of Ornellaia] in amphorae for more fruit, minerality, movement of lees and freshness,’ Balsimelli told James Button, Decanter’s regional editor for Italy.

Most popular Tuscan wines on Wine-Searcher

As a broad introduction to market prominence, here are the 15 most searched-for Tuscan wines on Wine-Searcher.com. (See table 1, below)

Super Tuscan snapshot

The first five names in this ranking are commonly cited as the most prominent (Super) Tuscan wines on the secondary market.

Sassicaia began as a Vino da Tavola in 1968 (it’s now Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC), and was followed by Tignanello and Solaia, and subsequently Ornellaia and Masseto. All use Bordeaux grapes in different proportions. Tignanello is the only one of these five with a Sangiovese-dominant blend.

Both it and Cabernet Sauvignon-led Solaia come from the same Antinori- owned estate in Chianti Classico territory. Ornellaia and Masseto are today owned by the Frescobaldi family.

More names to know

Prominent wines sitting just outside of the Wine-Searcher top 15 include: Poggio di Sotto, Castello Banfi (Brunello di Montalcino) and Ca’Marcanda (Bolgheri DOC), plus Toscana IGT labels such as Isole e Olena’s Cepparello, Tenuta Luce Luce, and Tua Rita Redigaffi.

Chianti Classico is absent from the ranking above, but has a rich history; its geographic boundaries were first established in 1716 by Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III. Antinori, Frescobaldi, Fontodi, Castello di Ama, Ricasoli and Querciabella are just some of the top producers in the region.

Fattoria Le Pupille in Maremma, southwest Tuscany, is best-known for its Saffredi label but makes several wines, including small-volume Le Pupille from Syrah grapes. Meanwhile, Tenuta di Capezzana’s Treffiano is a key label in the Carmignano DOCG.

Top Tuscan vintages

Headline vintage ratings are always an over-simplification, but top vintages in the past decade include 2019 and 2016, particularly in Brunello di Montalcino and Bolgheri, with 2015 not far behind. Brunello 2010 is also considered a modern benchmark, while excitement has been building around Tuscany’s class of 2021, too.

Other vintages have been marked by the usual extremes of cool and wet conditions (2014) or extreme heat and drought (2017). Nonetheless, as various Decanter reports have shown, pleasurable wines from these vintages do await those prepared to do some careful selection.

Two Decanter Wine Legends

Sassicaia 1985

A breakthrough vintage for Sassicaia from Tenuta San Guido, the estate founded by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. Sassicaia’s renegade blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc had already beaten other Bordeaux blends from around the world in a 1978 Decanter tasting. But perfect conditions in 1985 created a wine of sheer brilliance. When Robert Parker rated the wine 100-points – afterwards saying he often mistook it for Château Mouton Rothschild 1986 – a legend was born. (£3,750 per 1x75cl, Hedonism Wine).

Ornellaia 2001

Ornellaia’s first vintage release was 1985, having been founded by Lodovico Antinori. The opulent counterpart to Sassicaia’s more stoic classicist, it quickly gained an audience thanks to its ebullient founder’s marketing nous. The highly regarded 2001 vintage in Bolgheri was particularly successful at the estate, a cool spring followed by ideal ripening conditions in summer. (£1,400 per 6x75cl in bond, Berry Bros & Rudd BBX trading platform).

Two more legends to know:

• Isole e Olena, Cepparello 1982 (£220 per 150cl magnum in bond, Falcon Vintners)

• Biondi Santi Il Greppo 1975 (Riserva) (£4,500 per 6x75cl in bond, Corney & Barrow)

When are the wines released?

Minimum ageing requirements play a role in the timing of new vintages.

Brunello di Montalcino: No release before 1 January in the fifth year after harvest (i.e. 1 January 2024 for the 2019 vintage), with two years in oak and four months in bottle. Riserva wines must be aged for an extra year, with six months in-bottle.

Chianti Classico: Gran Selezione and Riserva wines must be aged for at least 30 and 24 months respectively, each with three months in-bottle. Annata wines must be aged for 12 months. Individual estate schedules will vary. Biondi Santi released its Brunello di Montalcino 2018 wine (non-Riserva) in March 2024, and its 2016-vintage Riserva in 2023, for instance.

Tenuta San Guido: This producer prefers to maintain direct importer relations in its key markets. Its Sassicaia and Le Difese wines are released each February, with a later release for its Guidalberto label.

Tuscany and La Place de Bordeaux

Many top Italian wines have turned to La Place de Bordeaux to increase their international distribution. Masseto was one of the earlier adopters, joining La Place in 2009, with its 2006 vintage, closely followed by Solaia. But Bordeaux négociants have begun handling a growing number of Italian fine wines since then.

Today these also include the Super Tuscans Tignanello and Ornellaia which (at least partially) release their new wines in March and April respectively.

Other Tuscan wines released on La Place de Bordeaux include:

• Solaia

• Bibi Graetz Colore

• Castello di Fonterutoli Siepi

• Caiarossa

• Podere Giodo, Brunello di Montalcino • Tenuta di Biserno

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione coming of age?

There is plenty to discover in Chianti, and within the historic Chianti Classico DOCG zone specifically.

‘I think it’s a region that’s got huge potential,’ said Katherine Fisher, speaking to Decanter in her role as Italy buyer at UK-based merchant Goedhuis Waddesdon.

So-called ‘additional geographical units’ (UGAs) can now be used on labels of top-tier Chianti Classico Gran Selezione wines, as part of efforts to deepen knowledge of the region.

Fisher said there is work to do on ‘education and clarification’ to help consumers understand the wines better, but she added: ‘If you can get beyond that, there are really good wines at fantastic prices to be found.’

Chianti Classico DOCG wines don’t have a significant presence on the secondary market, but the 10-year-old Gran Selezione category could be interesting for collectors to watch.

Wines must be estate-grown, and Decanter Italy expert Michaela Morris recently noted how the category has become a home for projects focused on specific vineyard sites. Her review of new releases in 2024 included a 97-point rating for Querciabella’s Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2019.

‘The estate’s third release, this Gran Selezione is among the top wines from Chianti Classico’s 2019 vintage,’ Morris wrote. ‘Just 4,000 bottles were produced from Querciabella’s site above 500 metres on the steep, stony slope of the Ruffoli hill.’

Value in Tuscany

Below are just five examples of Tuscan wines recently reviewed by Decanter experts, with cellaring potential but also for uncorking at the dinner table in the near future.

Five Tuscan wines for a drinking cellar under $60*

*Global average retail price in US$, ex-tax, on Wine-Searcher

Guidalberto 2021 | 95pts | $56

Tenuta San Guido is building a dedicated winery for Guidalberto, further emphasising its separate identity from Sassicaia. ‘This is a wine of velvety richness balanced by vivid acidity,’ wrote Susan Hulme MW of the 2021 vintage. Drinking window: 2024 – 2038.

Barone Ricasoli, Brolio, Chianti Classico 2022 | 91pts | $18

‘This year’s Brolio is simply textbook Chianti Classico, offering a fragrant juxtaposition of moist soil and spring blossoms on a well-padded backdrop of currants, cranberry and sour cherry,’ wrote Michaela Morris. ‘Really quite impressive for its almost 500,000-bottle production.’ Drinking window: 2024 – 2029.

Talenti, Brunello di Montalcino 2019 | 94pts | $56

‘From vineyards on Montalcino’s southeast and southwest slopes…Full-bodied and full-fruited, the palate offers great depth of expressive red berries and stony earth nuances,’ wrote Morris. Drinking window: 2026 – 2036.

Poliziano, Asinone, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2021 | 93pts | $54

‘Made since 1983, Poliziano’s iconic bottling hails from a 12-hectare expanse on marine-origin blue clay,’ wrote Morris, noting its velvety and polished tannins. ‘Juicy Sangiovese tanginess performs its refreshing magic.’ Drinking window: 2026 – 2036.

Caccia al Piano, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy 2020 | 94pts | $59

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the San Biagio vineyard, aged 12 months in new French oak and 12 months in large oak vessels. ‘The attack is silky, with ripe tannins on a dense but crunchy palate thanks to fresh acidity,’ wrote Aldo Fiordelli in his Bolgheri 2020 report. Drinking window: 2024 – 2035.

Spotlight on Brunello di Montalcino 2019

Merchants in the US and UK reported strong consumer demand for initial releases from this top-rated vintage earlier this year, with some drawing comparisons to the superb 2016 wines.

Davy Żyw, senior buyer at Berry Bros & Rudd, told Decanter that 2019 was a strong option for collectors, saying: ‘The wines cellar well and offer brilliant value versus other fine wine regions.’

Three top-scoring wines from Michaela Morris’ 2019 vintage review:

• Conti Costanti 2019 | 100pts

• Le Chiuse 2019 | 99pts

• Il Marroneto Madonna della Grazie 2019 | 99pts*

*Also rated 100 points by Decanter’s Aldo Fiordelli in 2023.

Brunello di Montalcino 2019 pricing

Goedhuis Waddesdon’s Fisher said Brunello prices had been rising in recent years but that, in general, pricing ‘still made sense’ and the releases campaign had been ‘really successful’.

One of the wines Goedhuis offered was Conti Costanti 2019 at £325 per six-bottle case in bond (IB) on release. It has since sold out.

‘Simply gloriously sculpted,’ Morris wrote of the wine, also referring to her previous praise for the winery’s ‘Brunello- esque’ Rosso di Montalcino from the same vintage. ‘I can’t help but imagine what next year’s Riserva release has in store.’

In its February market report, Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, noted the rise in release prices for the 2019s. For example, it said Casanova di Neri’s Tenuta Nuova 2019 was released up 16.3% on the 2018 vintage release at £925 (12x75cl IB). It added that some 2019s were more expensive on release than the critically acclaimed 2016 wines, although its data also showed many 2016s have risen in price since release.

The market price for Il Marroneto’s Madonna della Grazie 2016, for example, is up 21.6% since release. Although that price is lower than it was a year ago, it still commanded a price of £3,830 (12x75cl IB) on 31 May 2024. The 2019 vintage was £2,551 on release.

Brunello di Montalcino on the secondary market

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of LiveTrade online trading platform at Bordeaux Index, noted that Brunello di Montalcino still lacked an active and broad secondary market presence, despite good buyer interest in the wines and a ‘very attractive’ quality-to-price ratio.

‘We would be expecting people to buy these wines as collectors, rather than with the expectation of trading them,’ he said.

US-based Zachys is a major retailer of Brunello di Montalcino wines, but the region is not common at auction, said its head of auction sales, Charles Antin. ‘That said, Soldera and, to a slightly lesser extent, Biondi Santi and Poggio di Sotto have very aggressive fan bases and do quite well in our auction[s],’ he told Decanter.

Poggio di Sotto Riserva’s global average price has also risen by around 35% since June 2019, to $411 per bottle, although Biondi Santi Riserva was only up 14%, to $639.

Top Super Tuscans: Fine wine market performance

Sassicaia, Tignanello, Solaia, Ornellaia and Masseto are regularly cited as Tuscany’s top names on the secondary market.

Prices have come off the boil recently amid a wider market malaise. Yet, data from Wine-Searcher tracking the average price of each label suggests this group has still seen notable increases in the past five years. Tignanello in particular has seen the largest gains yet remains considerably cheaper than its peers, on average.

Production volumes may contribute to price differences. Tignanello is produced from a 57ha site, while Solaia’s vineyard is just 20ha and Masseto just 11ha – which also supplies second label Massetino.

Fine wine prices cool off in a tough market

Fine wine prices have fallen on the secondary market over the past 12 to 18 months, following a strong upwards period for many top wine labels, impacted by higher interest rates and wider economic uncertainty.

The Liv-ex 1000 index, a broad tracker of secondary market prices on collectible wines, dropped 14% in value in the 12 months to 31 May.

While historical performance and the wider appeal of fine wine to global collectors are commonly given as reasons to expect long-term value growth, it’s unclear whether the market has bottomed-out in its current downturn.

Italy offers stability

Despite this, Liv-ex said in June that its Italy 100 sub-index has been a ‘beacon of stability amid the broader market downturn’. It tracks several collectible Italian wines, including the key Super Tuscans.

Figures below show the Italy 100 has still fallen back, but has outperformed its parent index, the Liv-ex 1000, and also Bordeaux First Growths, represented by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50. The rise and subsequent dip has been more marked for Super Tuscans, but these wines have been the Italy 100’s best performers in recent years, as the Liv-ex chart below shows.

The Super Tuscan portion of the Italy 100 has also risen 0.5% in 2024 to date.

Super Tuscans vs Bordeaux

Super Tuscans had a quieter year in 2023, partly because the price gap to top Bordeaux narrowed, said UK merchant Bordeaux Index in January. ‘In simplest terms, Tuscany has changed [its] price context entirely while Bordeaux hasn’t,’ it said.

LiveTrade’s O’Connell previously reported good demand for the Sassicaia 2021 release. In June, he said the overall market was still subdued, but added: ‘We’re noticing there’s better trading in Champagne, Burgundy, Tuscany, and I think Bordeaux is lagging a bit in activity.’

Auction market perspective

Bordeaux and Burgundy tend to dominate at auction, and Tuscany’s share of the market is relatively small. US-based Zachys sold 1,212 lots of Tuscan wines at auction last year, totalling $1.46m – led of course by Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia and Tignanello. Its Piedmont sales were similar, with 1,250 lots sold for $1.59m.

However, it is a long way behind Burgundy (11,251 lots for $43.93m) and Bordeaux (6,077 lots for $19.89m). ‘There’s no question that the prices of Super Tuscans have increased in the last four years,’ said Zachys’ Charles Antin. However, the whole market also rose from 2020 to 2023, and so he advised caution on linking the higher value of Super Tuscans to increased interest in these wines specifically.

‘We see [Super Tuscan] wines in the 10 to 20-years-old range coming up with some frequency,’ he added. ‘Of course, the current releases of these wines are some of Zachys retail’s biggest sellers. So we have buyers at all spectrums of the market.’

Sassicaia 1985 still going strong

Some legendary vintages are less susceptible to market cycles, Antin added. ‘The 1985 Sassicaia is one that is impervious to market fluctuations. It only increases in value, albeit slowly. It is also roughly 10 times as expensive as every other vintage.’

Sassicaia 1985 was the most expensive Italian wine sold by online auction house iDealwine in 2023, according to its annual Barometer report. One bottle sold to a private buyer in Switzerland went for €2,170 ($2,346, £1,846), including taxes. In May 2024, US auction house Hart Davis Hart sold two lots of the wine:

• Sassicaia 1985 (2x75cl) | $5,975, including buyer’s premium (hammer price $5,000; high estimate $4,800).

• Sassicaia 1985 (1x75cl) | $2,629 (hammer $2,200; high e $2,400).

Masseto tops Italian sales at Sotheby’s

No Italian wine producers featured among the top 10 best-selling wine producers at Sotheby’s in 2023. Blue-chip Burgundy, first growth Bordeaux and Krug Champagne dominated the list. Still, Masseto accounted for 26% of Sotheby’s’ Italian wine auction sales by value.

The following 10 names accounted for 84% of Italian wine auction sales value at Sotheby’s last year:

• Masseto | 26% of total sales for Italy

• Sassicaia | 14%

•Gaja|14%

• Ornellaia | 9%

• Giacomo Conterno | 5%

• Bruno Giacosa | 4%

• G. Rinaldi | 4%

• Giuseppe Quintarelli | 3%

• Antinori | 3%

• Romano dal Forno | 2%

Ups and downs

Data sourced from Liv-ex up to 31/05/2024, unless otherwise stated. Liv-ex Market Price represents 12x75cl in bond, although some wines will be available in smaller case sizes. Prices are updated regularly on Liv-ex, and may also vary by merchant and market.

Up

Four risers over five years

• Sassicaia 2016

Liv-ex Market Price: £3,750

Tipped to become one of the all-time greats, its price has risen by around 65% in five years.

• Tignanello 2016

£1,540

This has doubled in price over five years, up 105% since June 2019, combining the strength of the vintage with particularly strong brand momentum.

• Masseto 2015

£9,200

One of Masseto’s best vintages, the price has risen 59% in five years, although it has fluctuated and was £8,008 in March. It remains less expensive than the celebrated 2001 vintage.

• Solaia 2013

£2,900

Another top Super Tuscan showing strong growth, the price is up 87% in five years.

Down

Three fallers over 12 months

• Bibi Graetz, Colore 2015

£1,800

A celebrated producer, but this wine was down by around 8% in the last 12 months. It was also down nearly 12% over five years.

• Sassicaia 2013

£2,300

This fell around 11.5% in 12 months to 31 May 2024, emphasising the current market malaise affecting many wines, but it is still up 77% over the last five years.

• Fontodi, Flaccianello della Pieve 2015

£1,161

This dropped 16% in 12 months, despite the quality of the vintage, but it remained up nearly 66% in five years.

Wine investment: Six things to consider

1. Some of the most prominent fine wines on the secondary market have a track record of increasing in value over time, particularly as available supplies diminish, but nothing is guaranteed. The pool of investment-grade wines is also relatively small.

2. Professional storage in bond is considered important. A wine’s condition and provenance can affect value.

3. Wine investment is unregulated. Only buy wine from reputable sources, and check provenance and condition as carefully as possible before buying.

4. Factor in costs, such as for storage, and possible selling fees. Storage is often charged at a fixed annual rate.

5. Some auction houses have previously told Decanter that full cases tend to be more in-demand, although limited-production wines may be released or allocated in smaller quantities – such as three-bottle cases.

6. If unsure, always seek professional advice.

Report by Chris Mercer for Decanter Premium. A freelance journalist and former editor of Decanter.com, Chris has written about the global fine wine market for more than a decade

Click here to join Decanter Premium now and enjoy instant access to the latest Bordeaux 2020 En Primeur Collector’s guide, as well as past Collector’s Guide’s including, Left Bank Bordeaux, Napa and Piedmont and Rhône.

Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

A downloadable PDF version of the Tuscany Collector’s Guide is available here

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Rioja’s high points in a sedate market

Last year was tough for the fine wine market. The Liv-ex 1000 index, one barometer of secondary market prices, fell 14.9% in 12 months to 31 January, although it was still up by nearly 12% in five years.

Trading has been subdued; however, UK merchant Goedhuis & Co reported consumer interest in the release of Marqués de Murrieta’s highly regarded Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2012 at the end of 2023. ‘Despite current conditions, we did see some clients returning to purchase the 2012 release,’ said Goedhuis buyer Nathaniel Frankland.

He pointed out that it’s a strong brand with a loyal following, and that the next vintage (2016) won’t arrive for a few years. There was also some interest in lower riced back vintages, he added.

Telmo Rodríguez’s Yjar continues to be a Rioja name to watch. Its third vintage, Yjar 2019 (99pts Decanter), debuted at £306 (3x75cl in bond) in September 2023, following its release via La Place de Bordeaux.

Some top Riojas are still well under £100 a bottle, however. For example, Muga’s Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2016 was released in November 2023 priced at £315 (per 6x75cl in bond, Bordeaux Index).

Releases in 2024 include R López de Heredia’s 2004 Viña Tondonia Gran Reservas (red and white) – due to be available in most markets from May. US distributor SAWM Imports, meanwhile, has taken on Bodega Contador and is set to receive Contador 2022 in September 2024.

Top-traded Rioja wines on Liv-Ex

Rioja continues to be a relatively minor player on the fine wine secondary market.

Robbie Stevens, head of broking at Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said in late 2023 that Spain constituted about 0.91% of trades by value on Liv-ex year-to-date, versus 0.69% in 2022. Rioja wineries’ strategy of releasing vintages when ready to drink could play to the current market’s strengths. ‘People are, in general, looking for something they can drink now – we’re seeing that across all regions,’ said Stevens.

Yet, only La Rioja Alta’s 904 Gran Reserva 2004 stopped wines from Ribera del Duero from taking every slot in the 10 most-traded Spanish wines by value on Liv-ex in 2023.

More Riojas featured in Liv-ex’s top-traded Spanish wines by volume, however, led by R López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia Tinto Reserva 2010.

Top-traded Spanish wine by volume, 2023:

• Dominio de Pingus, Flor de Pingus, Ribera del Duero 2020
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Tinto Reserva, Rioja 2010
• CVNE, Viña Real Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja 2015
• La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva, Rioja 2004
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Tinto Reserva, Rioja 2011
• La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva, Rioja 2011
• Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 50 , Ribera del Duero 2017
• La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva Selección Especial, Rioja 2015
• Dominio de Pingus, Flor de Pingus, Ribera del Duero 2019
• Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja 2015

Auction snapshot: Rioja aficionados love old vintages

Legendary Rioja still tempts auction buyers, when sighted. ‘I think there’s a small group of collectors, and particularly when it comes to old Riojas, who are aficionados,’ said Richard Harvey MW, long-standing international director of fine and rare wines at auction house Bonhams, who changed role to become chairman of the department in early 2024.

He highlighted reservas and gran reservas from about half-a-dozen top producers, including R López de Heredia (Viña Tondonia), La Rioja Alta and Marqués de Murrieta (Castillo Ygay).

‘I suppose you could call them the “premiers crus classés” of Rioja, and obviously older vintages are hard to come by,’ he admitted.

Harvey doesn’t see Rioja as a region for investment, however – even if prices do have the potential to rise over the very long term. ‘It’s a wine people buy for pleasure,’ he explained, likening it to collector interest in Madeira.

There is also niche demand for top white Rioja. ‘There are people who love that particular style of wine,’ said Harvey. ‘But, of course, old white Rioja is very much an acquired taste.’

Legendary Rioja at auction in 2023:

Bonhams (London)

• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva 1957 (5x75cl) £1,488 (high estimate £750), November 2023
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva 1964 (6x75cl) £1,240 (high estimate £600), November 2023
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva 1961 (5x75cl) £1,612 (high estimate £900), November 2023

Hart Davis Hart (US)

• Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 1942 (2x75cl) $5,377.50 (hammer price $4,500 / high estimate $1,800), September 2023
• Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial 1986 (3x75cl) $4,182.50 (hammer price $3,500 / high estimate $4,200), December 2023

Final sale prices include buyer’s premium

Price snapshot: Mixed signals

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2010 – £1,854

A star of recent years, this was down 7% over 12 months, but still up more than 70% since release. For context, Liv-ex’s market price for the current-release 2012 vintage was £2,410.

La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva 2004 – £600

Up 11% in one year and 33% in five years, but a non-mover in the last six months.

La Rioja Alta, 890 Gran Reserva 2010 – £1,450

It’s still early days for this top vintage of 890. The price has fluctuated – down 10% in 12 months at the time of writing.

Source: Liv-Ex market price (12 x 75cL in bond ) to 02/02/2024

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Top Burgundy and mature Bordeaux have been among the highlights at recent Hong Kong-based auctions by Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

In April, a Sotheby’s auction featuring ‘a remarkable Burgundy cellar’ saw a six-bottle lot of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 1978 sell for HK$562,500 (£56,600), including buyer’s premium – albeit below the pre-sale high estimate of HK$800,000.

White Burgundies were also prominent in the auction. A 12-bottle collection of Domaine d’Auvenay’s En La Richarde, Puligny-Montrachet 1999 in its original wooden case (OWC) fetched HK$500,000 (high estimate: HK$550,000). Only 1,224 bottles of the wine were produced, said Sotheby’s. Domaine Ramonet, Montrachet 1995 (12x75cl, OWC) sold for HK$300,000 (high estimate: HK$320,000).

Bordeaux’s vaunted 1961 vintage again demonstrated its enduring appeal, with three magnums of Petrus 1961 selling for HK$400,000 (high estimate: HK$400,000).

Fellow auction house Christie’s ran a Hong Kong-based online auction, ending 8 April, and highlights included 12 bottles of Henri Jayer’s Cros Parantoux, Vosne-Romanée 2000, with consecutive bottle numbers. Six two-bottle lots achieved prices ranging from HK$175,000 to HK$200,000, including buyer’s premium (high estimate per lot: HK$220,000).

From Bordeaux, Château d’Yquem, Sauternes 1990 (12x75cl) sold for HK$30,000 (high estimate: HK$30,000). Two 12-bottle lots of Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 5CC 1961 fetched HK$40,000 and HK$32,500 (high estimate per lot: HK$40,000).

Harlan’s Promontory shows big gains

A key index of fine wine secondary market performance, the Liv-ex 100, has increased in value for the first time in 12 months.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said in April that the index crept up by 0.4% in March, although it was still down 14% over 12 months. Meanwhile, the broader Liv-ex 1000 index continued to fall, dipping 0.6% in March.

Promontory 2018, a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon made by the Harlan family, was the Liv-ex 100’s best performer in March. Its ‘mid-price’, defined as the mid-point between the highest live bid and lowest live offer on Liv-ex, rose nearly 16%, versus February, to £7,600 (for 12x75cl in bond).

Promontory’s 2019 vintage (Decanter 99pts) was one of several wines recently released internationally via La Place de Bordeaux. UK merchant Lay & Wheeler offered it at £840 (1x75cl in bond).

Market for Bordeaux sluggish

Bordeaux has edged towards this year’s spring en primeur release season against a backdrop of quiet trading and declining fine wine prices on the secondary market.

Buyers still turned up for the recent release of Château Latour, Pauillac 2017. Sales were similar in quantity to Latour 2015, which debuted last year, said Joss Fowler, UK sales director at merchant Farr Vintners. Yet, Fowler added: ‘Demand for young Bordeaux is soft, as it is for wines from all regions.’

Trading on Bordeaux wines has been ‘extremely quiet’, said Matthew O’Connell, CEO of Bordeaux Index’s LiveTrade online trading platform. Bordeaux has lagged the price performance of other key regions in recent years, LiveTrade data shows. ‘We think [Bordeaux] is undervalued,’ said O’Connell, though he added it’s currently difficult to see a catalyst for growth.

Meanwhile at Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, the bid-to offer ratio for Bordeaux wines was 0.4, close to a tenth of its peak level two years ago, said chief commercial officer Anthony Maxwell. Liv-ex’s Fine Wine 50 index, which tracks first growths, was down by 2.7% in value over five years, while the broad-based Liv-ex 1000 index was up 12.3%.

En primeur prices to fall?

There was speculation in April that release prices will fall for Bordeaux 2023 en primeur wines, although each château has its own strategy and market context.

A report by analyst group Wine Lister said Bordeaux 2022 wines, released last year at ‘record high prices’ in some cases, have ‘so far remained stagnant on the secondary market, despite the noise around the high quality of the vintage’.

Farr Vintners’ Fowler told Decanter, ‘It’s a buyer’s market and the 2023 en primeur campaign will only be successful if it offers the consumer excellent value for money with prices below those of all physically available vintages in the market today.’

Liv-ex’s Maxwell said there was no shortage of quality wine available to buyers from recent vintages in Bordeaux and other regions. Nevertheless, Bordeaux’s en primeur campaign for the 2023 vintage could help to energise the market if release prices are deemed sufficiently attractive, he added.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Headlines on Bordeaux in the last two to three years have tended to relate to En Primeur pricing rather than strong market price performance, which has been associated more with Burgundy and Champagne.

Bordeaux Index believes that Bordeaux is substantially undervalued, especially post the 2023 market price drift. The key wines are central pillars of the global fine wine market and the underperformance vs other regions seems significantly overdone.

However, elevated En Primeur pricing cannot lead the market higher – and indeed we have observed previously that it can have the opposite effect by muting engagement with the wines already in the market.

There would be great benefit to Bordeaux demand and secondary market prices from an En Primeur campaign which seeks to re-engage buyers. While that will not be made easier by the prevailing environment, we believe it is nevertheless possible given the right release pricing.

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Fine wine buyers have shaken off their caution to pounce on highly rated Burgundy 2022 en primeur releases, according to UK merchants.

David Roberts MW, Burgundy and Bordeaux buying director at Goedhuis & Co, said: ‘After such a small crop in 2021, clients are very keen to buy what is an extremely attractive Burgundy vintage in 2022.’

Vintage quality appeared to override concerns about the economy, observed Jason Haynes, Burgundy buyer and director at Flint Wines. ‘Many domaines have been heavily oversubscribed,’ said Haynes, commenting on demand at Flint’s private client arm Stannary Wine.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said the campaign ‘has so far gone better than many dared imagine late last year’. Several merchants reported release prices largely consistent with last year. Liv-ex said some 40% of producers still increased prices, even if modestly, ‘which has made selling tricky in some quarters’.

It acknowledged producers’ need to cover higher costs by raising prices, but it also questioned whether current price levels can be sustained, particularly given the relatively

large 2023 vintage waiting in cellars.

A separate survey of Liv-ex members found 36% of respondents were ‘quite pessimistic’ about the fine wine trade in 2024, with 41% ‘neutral’. Tuscany and Bordeaux came top when members were asked to predict which regions would perform best on the market this year.

Burgundy prices soften further

Recent figures suggest Burgundy grand cru prices continue to retreat on the secondary market, although auction buyers are still interested in the rarest names.

Top Burgundies have been underperforming major equity markets, unlike a couple of years ago, indicated Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, in a new report (see chart). Its Burgundy 150 sub-index, which tracks the prices of mainly grands crus, also fell 3.7% in January.

It was down nearly 20% over 12 months, and some wines dropped more sharply – such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s (DRC) Richebourg 2014 and Domaine Armand Rousseau’s Chambertin 2015.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at merchant Bordeaux Index, said blue-chip Burgundy prices fell around 13% in 2023, although performance

varies.

Even on worst-affected names, ‘prices remain well above the early 2021 levels – it’s all relative’, he added. In a recent outlook report, the merchant reiterated its wariness about price sustainability outside the top 25 ‘blue-chip type’ producers.

Auction buyers still eyeing rare wines

A review of the year 2023 by New York-based auction house Zachys found Burgundy prices remained above pre-Covid pandemic levels. Trends cannot necessarily be discerned from individual auctions, but a Sotheby’s sale of DRC wines at a Hong Kong-based online auction offered a snapshot of buyer sentiment in early 2024.

Highlights included a three-litre jeroboam of DRC, Romanée-Conti 2002. It sold for HK$520,000 (£53,000), including buyer’s premium (estimate: HK$500,000-$700,000). A magnum of Romanée-Conti 1998 sold for HK$187,500 (e: HK$170,000- $260,000), and a single bottle of the 2013 vintage realised HK$137,500 (high e: HK$130,000).

‘Value’ grand cru

Liv-ex’s recent Burgundy report found ‘many village wines have become disproportionately expensive compared to grands crus’. It also said Clos des Lambrays, Clos du Vougeot and Corton-Charlemagne were comfortably below the average market price of other grands crus.

The former is a near-monopole of Domaine des Lambrays, which has been owned by LVMH since 2014. Young vintages of its Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru wines recently received strong ratings from Decanter’s Burgundy correspondent Charles Curtis MW.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

Across 2021-2022, ‘blue chip’ Burgundy saw price gains of about 60%, with some producers up towards doubling – this came not that long after outsized price gains in 2018, the prices resulting from which had largely been sustained in the interim period.

It would have been surprising if there was not some ‘settling’ of prices at slightly lower levels (as per 2019) after such a sharp move. However, the significant decline in activity in the wine market has led to prices drifting further than we had anticipated in Burgundy – mid to high-teen percentages, with some producers moving further down, usually those who had seen the biggest gains (Leroy, Rousseau).

We said in 2018 that prices over the long term would continue upwards (rather than a ‘bubble’ bursting), and this remains our view. The increase in global UHNW luxury consumption is an ongoing dynamic and when that demand side meets a strained supply side, like Burgundy, the results are inevitable.

Indeed, we have seen already this year that for the ‘right’ Burgundy wines (high rarity, large formats etc), prices are close to the 2022 highs; we do, however, see the recovery of prices more broadly to 2022 levels as being beyond H1 2024.

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The past decade has seen Champagne take a commanding place in the fine wine market. Exclusive and luxurious while simultaneously attainable and – relatively – affordable, Champagne has been blessed with multiple attributes.

Exceptional winemaking, critical acclaim and stylistic diversity have delighted collectors and propelled secondary market price appreciation.

The last 12 months have dampened the celebratory mood somewhat, however. Worldwide shipments dropped 8% in volume in 2023 according to the Comité Champagne, although exports still accounted for 172 million bottles. Prices too were checked by the difficult trading conditions last year – though Champagne remains a top price-performer in the long-run.

But Champagne continues to be compelling. Its history resounds with high society admirers and entrepreneurial exploits, from Sir Winston Churchill’s prolific consumption to the pioneering work of Madame Clicquot-Ponsardin.

In 2015, this storied past was recognised when Champagne’s hillsides, houses and labyrinthine network of underground cellars were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Amid a landscape of changing tastes, Champagne’s output of everything from Blanc de Blancs to gastronomic rosés, across vintages and grape varieties, and houses great and small, offers an incredibly deep well of wines for those with a taste for exploration.

This introductory guide for collectors highlights some of the key names to know and factors to consider, drawing on recent exclusive reports for Decanter Premium, while also exploring the dynamics of top vintage cuvées on the secondary market.

Champagne 101

As a very broad guide, the Côte des Blancs is predominantly home to Chardonnay. The Montagne de Reims is better known for Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier is most associated with the Vallée de la Marne. Further south, Pinot Noir also dominates in the Côte des Bar.

Styles may also be influenced by a range of other factors, such as access to particular vineyard sites or decisions in the cellar, including use of oak, length of lees ageing, or dosage.

Some producers communicate disgorgement timing – the removal of lees. Champagne Bruno Paillard has published disgorgement dates on labels since 1983, for example.

Magnums and larger-format bottles are relatively prominent in Champagne. All other conditions being equal, the wines are considered to age more slowly in larger formats, with some reports of certain cuvées developing a finer texture.

Most popular Champagnes on Wine-Searcher

Below are the 15 most searched-for Champagnes on Wine-Searcher.com.

Such a list naturally only represents the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the richness and variety offered by Champagne houses and growers. Krug, Dom Pérignon and Moët are all owned by luxury goods group LVMH.

Several top grower producers to know include Jacques Selosse, Ulysse Collin and Egly-Ouriet.

Non-vintage (NV) | Multi-vintage

The list above is dominated by top vintage cuvées, but most Champagne is non-vintage-specific – or multi-vintage. Such wines can range from entry-level to prestige cuvée.

This has historically denoted a particular ‘house style’. However, there is also a growing trend for producers to try to elucidate subtle character changes between releases, wrote Decanter’s Champagne correspondent, Tom Hewson, in a recent report for Premium subscribers.

Two long-standing examples of top-end, multi-vintage wines:

Krug, founded in 1843, is celebrated for its Grande Cuvée. The current-release 171ième Edition is composed around the 2015 harvest, but is a blend of 131 different wines spanning 12 vintages back to 2000.

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle ‘Itération No. 26’ was released in 2023 composed of 2012 (65%), 2008 (25%) and 2007 (10%).

Expectations were especially high for Grand Siècle ‘No.26’, due to its reliance on the highly regarded 2012 and 2008 vintages.

‘The wine more than meets them,’ wrote Hewson last year, ‘tempering the generosity of 2012’s fruit – ripe apricots, white peach, clementines and sunny, zesty citrus – with a pitch-perfect streak of 2008 tautness and structure.’ He gave the wine 96 points.

Three NV / multi-vintage Champagnes for a drinking cellar under £60 ($75)*

Exclusively reviewed for Decanter Premium subscribers in the past 12 months.

Eric Rodez, Cuvée des Crayères NV

93pts | $67

‘With its notes of almonds, white flowers, ripe pear and quince fruit, this non-vintage Ambonnay blend is silky and rich, dense but not heavy,’ wrote Charles Curtis MW. It contains 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir. Drinking window 2023 – 2030.

Louis Roederer, Collection 244 Brut NV

93pts | $57

Created from 2019-vintage base wine, plus a perpetual reserve and oak-aged reserve wines, this is the latest edition of Roederer’s new multi-vintage concept. ‘Still feels youthful and fragrant with juicy pear, blossom and almond notes,’ wrote Tom Hewson. Drinking window 2023 – 2028.

Pierre Péters, Cuvée de Réserve, Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut NV

92pts | $67

‘A benchmark NV Blanc de Blancs,’ wrote Hewson. ‘100% Chardonnay from grand cru villages in the Côte des Blancs. Based on the 2018 vintage with 50% reserves from a perpetual reserve going back to 1988.’ Drinking window 2023 – 2028.

*Wine-Searcher global average retail price per 75cl, ex-tax (US$). Prices will vary by merchant.

Vintages

All the usual caveats about generalised vintage ratings must apply. That said, certain vintages are considered particularly strong.

Six Decanter five-star vintages in Champagne:

• 2012
• 2008
• 1996
• 1990
• 1982
• 1976

From the 21st century, the 2002 vintage might also be ranked in this company. Looking ahead, there have been excited whispers that 2018, 2019 and 2020 could be another high-quality trilogy to rival 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Nothing is set in stone, however. Champagne’s 2013 vintage initially struggled for attention following the highly-regarded 2012, but Decanter’s Hewson found much to recommend in a recent ‘10 years on’ tasting.

Viticulture and winemaking also continues to evolve, not least as producers seek to adapt to climate change. Organic and biodynamic viticulture is increasingly common, while the days of struggling for adequate ripeness seem a long time ago now.

Champagne releases

Champagnes generally emerge when producers consider them ready to drink, although the best examples can continue to develop complexity over many decades.

Vintage Champagnes aren’t released every year, and timings vary between producers. Last year, for instance, Salon 2013 became only the 44th vintage of the Champagne released since its founding in 1905.

This often means that not every house is releasing the same vintage at any given time and, unlike say Bordeaux en primeur, releases are often staggered over the course of a year.

To get a better handle on who is releasing what and when, Ruairi O’Hara, of the private client and investment teams at UK merchant Goedhuis & Co, advises calling merchants to ‘ask if they have an idea of the [Champagne release] calendar for that forthcoming year’.

Six vintage releases in 2023 tasted and rated by Decanter:

• Louis Roederer, Cristal 2015 | 95 points
• Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne 2013 | 96pts
• Salon, Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 2013 | 97pts
• Philipponnat, Clos des Goisses 2014 | 97pts
• Dom Pérignon 2013 | 96pts
• Billecart-Salmon, Cuvée Nicolas François 2008 | 95pts

Source: Tasted on release for Decanter Premium by Tom Hewson. Cristal 2015 reviewed by Anne Krebiehl MW and Clos des Goisses 2014 reviewed by Georgie Hindle

Late-release stocks

Longer-aged releases are a feature of the market, too. Debuts last year included Philipponnat’s Clos de Goisses ‘LV’ 1998, released under its late disgorgement programme, and Cristal Vinothèque 2002. Meanwhile, Gosset introduced a new long-aged rosé, ‘12 Ans de Cave a Minima’ (NV).

Dom Pérignon launched its ‘Plénitude’ (P) late-release system in 2014, replacing its ‘Oenothèque’ programme. Vintages are normally aged for at least eight years before release, but ‘P2’ editions may be held back for around 15 years, while ‘P3’ can take 30 years or more to emerge, as the house explained at a Decanter Fine Wine Encounter Masterclass in 2018.

Three Decanter Wine Legends

See the full series here

Philipponnat, Clos des Goisses 1964

‘This was a superb year for Champagne, with excellent flowering and a hot, dry summer,’ wrote Decanter’s Stephen Brook, author of the Wine Legend series. The Philipponnat family once supplied ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV, and Clos des Goisses is sourced from a prized 5.83-hectare walled vineyard on a steep, south-facing slope in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.

Louis Roederer, Cristal 1959

Created in 1876 for Tsar Nicolas II, Cristal is a pioneer of the prestige cuvée concept. ‘It is rare for any vintage of Cristal to disappoint,’ wrote Decanter’s Brook, yet the 1959 is ‘clearly exceptional’. Cristal is produced entirely from Roederer-owned vineyards, and the team has embraced biodynamic farming methods in the 21st century under highly respected winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, chef de caves and executive vice president at Roederer.

Dom Pérignon 1975

‘Although Dom Pérignon is only released in vintages that are considered outstanding, the 1975 has always been recognised as one of the very finest,’ wrote Brook. Dom Pérignon made its debut in 1936, with the 1921 vintage. The 1961 vintage also features in Decanter’s Wine Legend series, as does Krug 1928.

One to watch: Salon, Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 2008

The smallest harvest on record for the house, which sources its 100% Chardonnay from select sites in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Salon 2008 was aged entirely in 8,000 magnums, and originally released in a case alongside two bottles each of 2007, 2006 and 2004. ‘This Champagne is among the greatest wines Salon has ever produced and should age gracefully for decades to come,’ wrote Decanter’s Charles Curtis MW in 2020.

Performance of top Champagnes on the fine wine market

There are never any guarantees, but Champagne prices have historically had a reputation for gradually rising on the secondary market, post-release, as drinkers popped corks and supplies of particular cuvées dwindled.

That script has been rewritten in recent years for some of the most prominent vintage cuvées, although 2023 saw something of a reality check for the fine wine market overall.

Ruairi O’Hara, of Goedhuis & Co, said that, at the top-end, critical praise for 2008 and 2012 drove stronger interest from both new and existing collectors.

Figures below track Wine-Searcher’s global average retail price (1x75cl, ex-tax) for some of the key Champagne labels on the market over the past five years.

Precise prices vary by market, but also by vintage. For example, Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne 2008 averaged $273 per bottle ex-tax, versus $180 for the newly-released 2013 vintage, $212 for the 2012 vintage, $201 for the 2006 and $383 for the 2002.

What goes up?

Data going back to 2004 from global marketplace Liv-ex, shows how its Champagne 50 sub-index began to outperform its headline fine wine indices in late 2013 (See Chart 1).

After peaking in 2022, there followed a sharp correction. The Liv-ex Champagne 50 fell 18.3% in 2023, although it remained 51% higher than five years earlier. Of the key regional sub-indices constituting the Liv-ex 1000 index, only the Rhône 100 fared worse last year. (See Chart 2).

Six major fallers over 12 months within the Liv-ex Champagne 50

• Krug, Vintage Brut 2008: Down 36%
• Jacques Selosse, Millésime 2008: Down 28%
• Louis Roederer, Cristal 2012: Down 27%
• Salon, Le Mesnil 2007: Down 25%
• Dom Pérignon 2009: Down 22%
• Bollinger, La Grande Année 2008: Down 18%.

Source: Liv-ex, Champagne 50 sub-index. Data to 31/12/2023.

Has a bubble popped?

UK-based merchant Bordeaux Index said in January that Cristal and Krug have seen the biggest price reversals overall, having risen furthest in 2021 and 2022.

But it also added: ‘There is no grand marque Champagne which is up less than 20% [in price] over the last three years.’

Some older Champagnes have been more resistant to price corrections. Dom Pérignon 1996 was ‘experiencing a negligible pullback compared to more recent vintages of the wine’, said Liv-ex recently.

‘I think that a corrective phase [for the market] is natural after such a sustained period of growth, particularly for Champagne, which was absolutely rocketing up,’ O’Hara said of the market.

‘We have seen more people come to sell their wines on the market or sell their wines on our broking lists over the past year, but it hasn’t really been limited to Champagne,’ he said in December.

Taking a longer-term view, Bordeaux Index said the spike in Champagne buying in recent years was partly driven by broader global consumption of fine wine, with a focus on strong brands, and also by the top cuvées being undervalued.

‘It is a region for which ongoing consumption expansion and price progression is well-underpinned on a long-term basis and in that context we see the current pricing levels as a buying opportunity,’ said the merchant.

O’Hara added there is ‘definitely a broader group of buyers for Champagne’, with greater interest from collectors than in the past.

A buyer’s market in 2024?

There were mixed views in early 2024 on whether prices will fall further. At the end of December 2023, Liv-ex said that, ‘bearish momentum and increased volatility’ on the Liv-ex 1000 index pointed to an ongoing downward trend in the short-term.

Bordeaux Index said fine wine prices fell 12% on average in 2023 amid a quieter overall trading environment. ‘Historical [market] trends support market prices likely having reached a bottom point and this is our base case,’ it said.

It didn’t expect an upturn in the first quarter of 2024, though, leaving scope for ‘opportunistic trading’, including on ‘young to middle-aged Champagne’.

Cases of Champagne were trading at around 5% below market price on average on Liv-ex in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Given the macroeconomic headwinds and the high rate of buying in recent years, it remains to be seen how many buyers can be tempted back into the market in 2024.

Speculation about interest rate cuts may be one factor to watch closely. Bordeaux Index noted a correlation between rapid rate rises last year and diminishing fine wine demand.

Auction snapshot

Data from US-based Zachys gives an indication of Champagne’s relative prominence on the auction market, which is dominated by the superstars of Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Zachys auction sales 2023: Top five regions

• Burgundy: $43.9m | 11,251 lots
• Bordeaux: $19.9m | 6,077 lots
• California: $5.3m | 4,816 lots
• Champagne: $3.6m | 1,688 lots
• Rhône: $2.1m | 1,747 lots

Source: Zachys 2023 Year in Review (auction.zachys.com)

While auction houses have continued to report strong buyer demand for rare wines, they have not been immune to the wider market malaise.

France-based iDealwine said: ‘Top champagnes are selling well, but we’re not seeing the same bidding wars that marked 2022.’

It added: ‘The average hammer price per bottle decreased from €259 (£221) in 2022 to €207 (£177) in 2023, a drop in price of 20%.’ Its four most sought-after labels in both years were Selosse, Dom Pérignon, Salon and Krug.

The group highlighted strong interest in grower Champagnes more generally in some markets, notably the US, and it named several producers as ‘rising stars’. These include:

• Cédric Bouchard
• Romain Henin
• Egly-Ouriet
• Emmanuel Brochet
• Aurélien Lurquin
• Pascal Agrapart
• Jérôme Prévost

Legendary Champagne under the hammer

iDealwine said its three most expensive bottles of Champagne bought at auction in 2023 were:

Krug, Clos du Mesnil 1979*: €4,132 (US$4,473)

Dom Pérignon, P3 1976: €3,968

Jacques Selosse, Millésime, Extra Brut 1er Cru 2008: €3,100

Auctions of single-owner wine collections by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in the final weeks of 2023 also featured vaunted Champagnes.

A Christie’s New York auction on 11 December saw six bottles of Cristal Rosé 2004, in original packaging, fetch $4,000, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: $3,500). Twelve bottles of Cristal Brut 1999 sold for $5,250 (above its $5,000 high estimate) and three bottles of Salon, Le Mesnil 1999 fetched $3,250 (also above their high estimate of $3,000).

In Hong Kong, Sotheby’s held a major sale of wines from collector Pierre Chen (see below), with more to follow in 2024.

Five highlights from ‘The Epicurean’s Atlas: The Encyclopaedic Cellar’

Hong Kong, 24 & 25 November.

Salon, Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 1985 (12x75cl)

Sold for: HK$300,000 (US$30,281) (estimate: HK$110,000 – HK$150,000)

Dom Pérignon, P3, 1971 (6x75cl, OWC*)

Sold for: HK$212,500 (estimate: HK$170,000 – HK$240,000)

Dom Pérignon, P3, 1982 (6x75cl)

Sold for: HK$175,000 (estimate: HK$140,000 – HK$190,000)

Salon, Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 1990 (6x150cl, OWC)

Sold for: HK$200,000 (estimate: HK$160,000 – HK$220,000)

Krug, Clos d’Ambonnay Trilogie – 1996, 1998, 2000 (3x75cl OWC)

Sold for: HK$187,500 (estimate: HK$150,000 – HK$220,000)

*Original wooden case. NB: Final prices include buyer’s premium.

Five factors to remember if you’re considering wine as a possible investment:

A wine’s condition can affect value, meaning professional storage in controlled temperature and humidity is important.

Check a wine’s provenance as carefully as possible before buying.

Remember to consider costs, such as for storage, and possible selling fees.

Some auction houses have previously told Decanter that full cases tend to be more in-demand.

Price increases are, of course, never guaranteed.

Report by Chris Mercer for Decanter Premium. A freelance journalist and former editor of Decanter.com, Chris has written about the global fine wine market for more than a decade

Click here to join Decanter Premium now and enjoy instant access to the latest Bordeaux 2020 En Primeur Collector’s guide, as well as past Collector’s Guide’s including, Left Bank Bordeaux, Napa and Piedmont and Rhône.

Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice.The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

A downloadable PDF version of the Champagne Collector’s Guide is available here

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