Fine wine markets knocked back in March

The main Liv-ex indices the Fine Wine 100 and 1000 both declined over 1% in March but it could have been worse.

Although the FTSE 100, Stoxx Europe 600 and Dow Jones indices all recently witnessed sharp plunges and the biggest quarterly or daily losses they’e ever witnessed as a result of global government reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic, the two key Liv-ex indices declined over 1% each.

The FW100 was down 1.06% and the FW1000 1.35% at the end of last month, the latter having declined since October last year.

Nonetheless, fine wine has largely staved off more catastrophic losses because sterling remains somewhat weak making wine attractive for dollar and euro buyers and there is continued and strong demand for wine deliveries and orders.

As was reported recently, Italy remains the best performing country so far this year while the various French and Rest of the World categories are variously more languorous in their performances.

The fine wine market is broadly holding its own for now, therefore but the outlook remains unclear.

Liv-ex noted that: “With governments worldwide extending their lock down periods, one might expect the demand for home deliveries to continue at whatever price level wine lovers imbibe. However Sterling is now showing signs of strength and Bordeaux 2019 has been put on ice, creating a potential vacuum over the months ahead. Fine wine’s long-term fundamentals remain intact – arguably supply is diminishing at a faster rate than ever – but with so much uncertainty still at play, few are prepared to call the market’s direction from here.”