Fine wine market softens during August

There appears to be some promising signs of the fine wine market softening during August, with a “deceleration” in the decline of all major Liv-ex indices, the fine wine marketplace has said. 

August saw a 1.3% decline in the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100, the industry benchmark of the 100 most sought-after fine wines, which closed at 376.55, while there was a similar fall on the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 (which tracks the movement of First Growths), which was down by 1.4% month-on-month.

Although Liv-ex said the year-to-date trend “remains bearish”, it was worth noting that the pace of decline across the indices has slowed “significantly”.  For example, the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 – the broadest measure of the fine wine market – slipped by only 0.8% last month, a sharp contrast to its 9.5% decline since the beginning of 2023.

As Liv-ex notes, “a soft market is, by definition, a buyers’s market, and it appears that buyers have stepped up their participation. August recorded increased trading activity, with trade by both value and volume showing an uptick.”

Market breadth also expanded, it said, with 2,035 individual labels trading.

However although promising, whether this deceleration is a sign that the downturn is ending might be premature.

“Probably not yet,” it said.

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