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Burgundy and Bordeaux Super Seconds fill First Growth trade gap

Published:  14 December, 2011

Burgundy's top wines and lower-ranking Bordeaux Crus Classes are filling the trade gap left by lack of demand for First Growths, according to Liv-Ex data.

The Liv-Ex Fine Wine 100 has descended for the fifth consecutive month with the Fine Wine 100 dropping in November by 3.3%, a decline of 11.4% year to date.

An increase in demand for top wines, such as Burgundy's DRC and Ponsot, has boosted the region's share of turnover by more than 4% for the second month running.

While in Bordeaux merchants have broadened their focus to include a more eclectic group of wines and lower-ranking Crus Classes have made gains of 10% month-on-month.

It added that strong brands from both banks of the Gironde attracted buyer attention in November, they included older vintages and Super Seconds, Cos d?Estournel and Ducru Beaucaillou.

The famous sweet wine, Château Yquem also showed a record amount traded on the Liv-Ex Fine Wine Exchange last month.

When asked Liv-Ex trading members said that the £250-300 per bottle price range was where interest starts to rise amongst their private clients - price similar to the cost of a night in a mid- range London hotel or a weekend away in the country.

Of the 55 First Growths from the vintages 1995-2006 (excluding 1997), in June 2011 only three of these wines had a price of below £300 per bottle in-bond, by the end of November it had grown to 24.

Liv-Ex said that it is significant that bar a couple of the 2006s, all of the wines are, or are about to hit, their drinking windows - when coupled with more affordable pricing it would suggest consumption will increase and supply start to diminish which could potentially put a break on price falls.

The one wine notable by its absence is Lafite, despite its dramatic price falls of recent months, the cheapest Lafites (2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006) are still trading at around £6,500 per case.

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