Champagne sparkles in September

Champagne was the focus of buyers’ attention in September after a flurry of prestige cuvée releases but the Liv-ex 100 ran flat over the course of the month.

The flat September follows on from a steady August and the index is up 1.3% on the year to date.

Cristal’s 2004 vintage saw its mid price go up 8% from £1,211 to £1,308 over the month, closely followed by Haut-Brion’s 2000 which went up 7.5% to £5,059.

Also up in September were Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s 2009 La Tâche and Lynch Bages’ 2000 both up 5.6% and Lafite’s 2006 which rose 4.8%.

Going down in September were Lafite’s 1998 dipping 3.7% to under £5,000 a case, the 2009 Penfolds Grange down 4.1%, Sassicaia 2009 and Margaux 2000 both listing 4.2% and Haut-Brion’s 2009 down 4.9%.

Champagne has had a lot of attention this month with some high-profile releases in the shape of 2006 Comtes de Champagne and Dom Pérignon and the region accounted for 10.7% of all trade by value in September.

Lynch Bages too was a popular estate and the most widely traded label by volume outside of the first growths last month.