Fine Wine 1000 falls for first time in 22 months

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 has registered its first negative performance in 22 months after it declined, very slightly, in September.

As reported by Liv-ex the index, which is the broadest measure of fine wine market, declined by 0.14% during the course of last month, a tiny decrease by any standards but one that has come after a quite unprecedented 22 month-long bull run.

Despite the small setback, the index is still up just over 7% on the year to date, with all the constituent sub-indices having witnessed positive performances.

However, in September the Rhône 100 and the two major Bordeaux indices (the Fine Wine 500 and Bordeaux Legends 50) saw declines nudging 1% which helped drag the index as a whole into the red.

That said, the Italy 100 and Rest of the World 50 (which tracks labels such as Opus One and Penfolds Grange) went up 1% and 2.2% respectively – the latter no doubt helped along by the release of the latest vintage of Opus, which is the ‘cheapest’ on the market.

As Liv-ex noted, their “resilient” performance, “supported the index from falling further.”

Meanwhile, after a decent August gain of 0.5%, the more focused Fine Wine 100 index (tracking the most widely traded labels) also drifted back 0.2% in September.

There was a mix of labels from Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux and the US heading up last month.

The month’s top riser was Armand Rousseau’s 2012 Chambertin which rose 6.8% to £11,146 a case.

Also, having been one of the labels that declined in August, the 2013 Opus One bounced back with a 5.4% rise and also up were the 2006 Dom Pérignon, 2009 Haut-Brion and 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion.

Meanwhile, those labels that declined in September were mostly those that failed to maintain the gains they achieved in August, namely: Sassicaia and Masseto’s 2013 vintages and the month’s biggest faller, the 2012 Romanée-Conti from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which declined 9%.