‘Rare buying opportunities’ as fine wine prices hit a five-year floor
As the fine wine market shows signs of stabilising, a “rare buying opportunity” has arisen, with prices at a five-year low, according to Liv-ex.
Liv-ex’s December market report reported a 0.4% rise in the Liv-ex 1000, the market’s broadest benchmark, marking the third month of gains. There were also gains in the Liv-ex 50 – the indices which tracks the daily price movements of the Bordeaux First Growths – with bids exceeding offers for the first time since May 2023. Demand was “returning to the most liquid corners of the market”, it noted.
At the same time, buyers seemed to be “encouraged by stabilising price”, reaching their highest share of the market in 2025, at 38%.
Tom Burchfield, head of market intelligence noted that with Liv-ex indices rising for the third consecutive month and bids reaching their highest level since April 2023, the fine wine market is “showing signs of stability as we close the year”.
“After three years of steady decline, optimism is returning — albeit fragile,” he said.
Scars remain
However, despite the renewed optimism, “the scares of the downturn remain visible across much of the market”, with Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux “bearing the brunt of the correction”.
The upside of this is that it has opened up opportunities to secure “key wines” at their lowest prices since 2020, “and demand in the secondary market is rising at these levels”.
The Liv-ex 50, 1000 and Bordeaux 500 posted their strongest gains in more than three years, for example, and bids surged at their highest level since April 2023, to £31million. Much of this demand is being driven by UK and Asian customers, with bids from these regions up 135% from last year’s average, the report said.
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In November, European buyers accounted for 39.8% of the market, also buyers from the US remained muted, with only a 16.8% share.
Meanwhile, there was resilience is some quarters, the data showed, notably Sauternes and Barsac. Sauternes dominated the top ten performers from the Liv-ex 1000 since the market peak in September 2022, with Château Climens and Château Coutet at the top with growth of 4.2% and 4.1% respectively. Château Rieussec, Château Suduiraut and Château d’Yquem also featured. This was likely caused by it seeing only a “modest rise in the 2020 bull run”, followed by a correspondingly mild correction.
Likewise, Italian ‘icons’ Solaia and Gaja saw have outperformed their peers in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne in the same three year period, although Joseph Drouhin was the only Burgundy estate to avoid a price decline, rising 0.8%, compared to Burgundy’s 33.7% decline of the Burgundy 150 since the September 2022 peak.
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