market report

Liv-ex is an electronic exchange for fine wine used by professional merchants and collectors. Market Report is part of a package of services offered to subscribers of Liv-ex, with subscriptions starting at £49.95 per year. Below is an extract from the latest Market Report. For the full report and to access Liv-Ex's services, sign-up with them at www.liv-ex.com

Liv-Ex Market Report
by Liv-ex.com, April 2012

Trading
Bordeaux 2011 became a focal point in April. As usual, monthly trading activity was subdued as merchants held back capital for the new vintage. Muted demand saw exchange turnover fall 38% on March, while high release prices knocked the market's confidence and drove the Liv-ex Indices lower. Boosted by their exceptional Parker scores, and the fact that they are now becoming physically available, the 2009s accounted more than quarter of Bordeaux turnover. The most traded 2009 by value was Latour, which was one of 19 wines to receive a perfect in-bottle score in March. The 2008s claimed 10% of trade, and Lafite and Rieussec 2011 accounted for a combined 8% of turnover. Bordeaux's share of turnover edged up to 91% in April. Burgundy, however, took a step back and accounted for 3% of trade (down from 9% in February and 5% in March). Nevertheless, demand remained broad, with Dom Perignon 2002 boosting Champagne's share of turnover to an 18- month high of 2%.

(more analysis in the full report)

Major Movers
Vieux Chateau Certan occupies two spots in this month's major movers table. The label has been among the top-scoring wines of the last three vintages, and this is strengthening demand for the brand as a whole. Lower-priced vintages of Montrose and Smith Haut Lafitte are benefitting from the success of their 2009s, both of which received perfect scores from Parker.
(analysed in detail in full report)

Bordeaux 2011 Parker Comparison
Robert Parker published his take on the Bordeaux 2011 vintage in April. We analysed the reviews of 35 leading Bordeaux chateaux in order to calculate the vintage's mean score. Using the mid-point of each barrel-score spread for our calculation, 2011 achieved an average of 92.5 points . placing it between 2008 (93.7) and 2001 (91.9) in terms of quality. But what does this mean for 2011 pricing? The new releases must be more affordable than comparable vintages in order to appeal to buyers. In fact, given their similar scores, the 2011s will need to be substantially cheaper than the 2001s, which have already spent almost a decade in bottle. (So far, very few releases have been priced correctly.) To view the current 2001 and 2008 prices of the labels in our study, visit the Liv-ex Blog.

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