Wine investment: Bordeaux faces pricing dilemma

Prices for several top Bordeaux wines from recent vintages have struggled for momentum following release, fresh data shows, shining a light on a delicately poised market as it faces the beginning of the 2024-vintage en primeur campaign. Some wines have seen prices fall in pound sterling terms since their UK en primeur release, according to data supplied by international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform. Even the 2019 vintage, released at relatively low prices in the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘shows a less than stellar performance’, said Geraint Carter, of Bordeaux Index. [subscriber-content]Some 2015- and 2016-vintage wines have risen strongly. Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2015’s price has more than doubled in price (see chart), to around £1,000 (12x75cl in bond). More prices may rise over time, particularly given wines’ high quality, yet the current market remains subdued. Fine wine prices have fallen since late 2022, but Bordeaux has underperformed for longer. Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said its Bordeaux 500 index dropped 4.2% in the five years to 31 March. Its multi-region Liv-ex 1000 index rose 5.5%. While Bordeaux 2024 barrel samples were still being tasted as Decanter went to press, some châteaux were rumoured to be considering release price cuts for the second year running. Liv-ex said en Bordeaux primeur remains a potential opportunity, despite average prices falling, post-release, on recent vintages. ‘Releasing the 2024s at the right prices will do more than reinvigorate the en primeur system – it may be the catalyst needed to end the current market downturn.’ Each producer has its own context, however. Consultancy group Wine Lister said prices for Pomerol’s Château Lafleur have risen 62% on average since release, for the five vintages spanning 2019 to 2023. Success story: Latour 2016 Buyer thirst for Bordeaux hasn’t evaporated. A market debut for Château Latour 2016 (100pts, Decanter ) in March ‘was, by some distance, the standout sales “event” of the year to date’, said Bordeaux Index’s Carter. In April, it was being offered at £3,200 (6x75cl in bond, LiveTrade). Miles Davis, market expert at merchant Vinum Fine Wines, said: ‘We sold out very quickly indeed and it felt like the good old days again.’ 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 . This year’s Bordeaux en primeur campaign, for the fairly challenging 2024 vintage, comes at a difficult time for Bordeaux, the only blue-chip wine region to have seen price declines versus the levels of five years ago. At the same time, most buyers of recent EP vintages are sitting on paper losses due to the combination of release prices sitting too close to market prices of surrounding vintages and the headwinds to Bordeaux prices overall. There’s certainly a path to a successful EP campaign, one that sees significant collector demand and potentially reignites broader buyer interest in Bordeaux as a region. This requires very substantial discounts to current market pricing of the cheapest recent vintages, such that the wines are in a ‘must buy’ pricing territory – marginal pricing simply won’t be of interest to most buyers at this juncture. While the vintage was challenging, Bordeaux châteaux now have a remarkable ability to make very good wines year in, year out, such that if the pricing is right, collectors will be able to tuck away great wines at great prices, and may even then turn their attention to other recent vintages where there are certainly good long-term deals. Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges auction prices up Strong bidding on a reduced number of lots in the 64th Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges Burgundy auction drove up the average price per barrel by 41.5% versus last year, organisers have said. Price per barrel reached €22,422.50 (£19,432), close to a record €22,807 set in 2022, said auction host iDealwine. Burgundy’s small 2024 harvest affected the quantity of wine offered this year. Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges vineyards, spanning 12.4ha, saw the lowest overall yield since 1961. Total sales from 35.5 barrels, or ‘pièces’, reached €796,000, said iDealwine. The sale also raised €60,950 from bottles of mature vintages released from domaine cellars. A special barrel in aid of Coucou Nous Voilou children’s charity also raised more than €53,000. Last year’s auction, focusing on the 2023 vintage, featured 150 pièces and sales topped €2m. Demand for wines is widening Auction house Sotheby’s has reported a ‘broadening in collecting interests’ in its latest annual market report for wine and spirits, despite a drop in overall sales last year. Sotheby’s new report highlighted rising demand for wines from California and Spain, as well as Italy and the Rhône, in 2024. Bordeaux, Burgundy and spirits still constituted just under 70% of total wine and spirits sales for the year, with Burgundy’s fabled Domaine de la Romanée-Conti the top-selling producer. Sotheby’s global wine and spirits auction sales dropped to $114m (£87m) in 2024, versus a record $159m in 2023, however. While hammer prices fell in a challenging market, it was also a year of consolidation and investment, said Nick Pegna, Sotheby’s global head of wine and spirits. ‘We were inspecting a number of long-term collections that we’re bringing to market this year,’ he said, adding the first quarter of 2025 was ‘better than planned, and we’re really pleased with the results’. Despite reports of a difficult market for young Bordeaux, Pegna said bidders were thirsty for older, ready-to-drink vintages, such as 2005 or 2008. ‘Good quality, excellent provenance, mature Bordeaux is still strongly in demand,’ Pegna said. A recent Sotheby’s London auction included wines from the cellar of John Apthorp CBE. Two bottles of Château Mouton Rothschild 1982 fetched £3,750, including buyer’s premium (high estimate: £1,600). Seven bottles of Petrus 1970 sold for £16,250 (high e: £13,000). [/subscriber-content] [breakout] 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. [/breakout] Related articles Wine investment: Has the market hit bottom? Wine investment: Top-tier Burgundy prices soften Wine investment: Market malaise hits Bordeaux prices

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