1989 Haut-Brion hits new high

The 1989 vintage of Pessac first growth Haut-Brion hit an all time high of £14,846 a case on the Liv-ex Exchange this week.

The new high point of £14,846 is well above the wine’s former record of £14,500 it attained in 2011 at the market’s high point.

As explained by Liv-ex on its blog, Haut-Brion’s stock has risen in the eyes of buyers of late and since the market’s nadir in July 2014: “The Haut Brion Index – tracking the prices of the last ten physical vintages – is up 15.8%. It is currently the second best performing first growth behind Mouton Rothschild.”

The 100-point (per Robert Parker) wine is Haut-Brion’s equivalent of the ’45 Mouton Rothschild, ’61 Latour, ’82 Lafite or ’83 Margaux.

Released in 1990 for £480 a case in April of this year with a price of £13,900 a dozen it had appreciated 3,600%.

With Haut-Brion having further Parker 100-pointers (the 2005, 2009 and 2010) in its back catalogue all at or somewhat below £5,000 a case and more available than the now nearly 30-year-old ’89, could their trade be about to pick up?