Bottles of vintage Dom Pérignon: Champagne has been a top performer on the fine wine market in 2021
Credit: Photo by Renato Marques on Unsplash
(Image credit: Photo by Renato Marques on Unsplash)

Bordeaux Index said its sales jumped by 47% in 2021 to reach $174m (£128m), a new record for the company.

Its results reinforce the sense of a strong 12 months for the global fine wine market, led by famous ‘blue chip’ labels in particular.

Its client base expanded by around 30% year-on-year, with trading by value on LiveTrade up by 55%.

Bordeaux Index founder and CEO Gary Boom said, ‘While activity in the wine market – just as in other luxury assets and collectibles such as art – has no doubt been high, we believe our outsized growth is a clear vindication of our strategy to improve market access and transparency alongside providing best-in-class product expertise.’

Growth mostly came from the US and Asia, but the merchant reported ‘pronounced gains’ in the UK, too.

Prestige Champagne has been a standout performer in terms of wine categories, with top Bordeaux – especially younger vintages of First Growths – and SuperTuscan wines also seeing strong demand.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of LiveTrade who spoke to Decanter about general market trends before Christmas, also highlighted ongoing high prices for famous Burgundy wines – a feature of the wider market in 2021.

Boom said he was upbeat about the year ahead. ‘Looking ahead to 2022, there is certainly room for an optimistic outlook, with the global pool of wine collectors on a different scale to a decade ago, and also investors increasingly looking towards hard assets such as wine which deliver consistently strong performance, capital preservation and protection against inflation.’

The group said it had invested to expand its LiveTrade platform this year, to allow users ‘to trade the full spectrum of fine wines rather than the core set which LiveTrade has focused on to date’.

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Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.