Q2 sees fine wine slowdown, Cult Wines cautions

The fine wine market saw a slow down in the second quarter with April seeing “ongoing” price consolidation in Burgundy and Champagne, with buyers holding off due to the May en primeur campaign, Cult Wines has said.

A fine wine market snapshot suggested that early weakness in the year was likely a result of ongoing price consolidation in Burgundy and Champagne.

“While these regions led the market in recent years, the persistent rally has caused heightened price sensitivity among buyers in 2023, often leading to a short-term slump,” the company said.

There were some promising signs though – while the Burgundy and Champagne Indices dipped, wines from the US showed a “robust performance”, the only indices in growth during April, at +1.17%, which boosted its year to date performance to 0.50%.

The 2009 Verite, Le Desir, for example, surged by 38.6% according to pricing by Wine-Searcher.

Bordeaux also maintained some stability despite a “modest decline of -0.18%, compared to its full year performance of 1.52%.

However,  Cult Wine noted that this dip could be attributed to buyers waiting for the new en primeur releases in May, which is widely expected to be a high-quality vintage, causing a bit of “calm before the storm” slowdown in April’s fine wine market.

There was also a “minor dent” in Burgundy’s performance, down 0.78% in April – however, its longer-term performance of 11.83% over the past 12 months, made it “comfortably the top performing region”.

There were some notable exceptions, with Artadi Pagos Viejos remaining the top performing wine so far this year, despite a slight YTD dip in April, while Tenuta San Guido’s Guidalberto maintained its second place. This cements its place as more than Sassicai’s second label, but “a serious, age-worthy contender” in its own right.

Fellow Rioja wine Remirez de Ganuza Reserva also leapt up the league table.