Surrounded by excitement for the latest La Place releases, September saw total trade by value increase 22% on August. Despite global economic uncertainty and a second Covid-19 wave in Europe, fine wine trade was up 15% by value and 85% by volume on September last year.
The last week of the month was particularly good for Champagne. The region saw its market share more than double (18.7%) on last week (9.2%). Trade of Italian wine also rose slightly, to 18.5%, with activity from Bolgheri, Barolo and Barbaresco.
Bordeaux accounted for a third of the total trade. The First Growths made up 23.6% of this. The Liv-ex 50, which tracks their price performance, maintained its level.
White Burgundy accounted for 4% of trade in the past week, with red Burgundy taking 11.8%. Trade for the USA (5.2%) and the “others” category (which was led by Spain at 2.4%) decreased.
Taittinger 2008 Comtes de Champagne, released in the UK on Thursday at £1,070 per 12×75, led trade by value this week. The wine last traded at 28.6% premium to its opening price.
The Wine Advocate’s William Kelley noted that the wine “will be worth a special effort to track down”. According to him, “this is the finest Comtes de Champagne since the brilliant 2002” (Taittinger 2002 Comtes Champagne currently commands a Market Price of £1,996 per case). Liv-ex members can also take advantage of over £2m live Champagne offers, including but not limited to Taittinger.
The 2017 vintage of the Super Tuscan Ornellaia also featured in the top five, having last traded at a 7.7% discount to Market Price. Lafite Rothschild 2016, which received 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck and James Suckling, was also very active.
