Rare wines prove resilient investment in downturn
Demand for rare and fine wines appears to be holding up with Bonhams reporting its highest ever sales record for famous brand wines earlier this month.
The London-based auction house said fine and rare wines sales hit more than £650,000 at an auction held on July 9th.
The top price was made by a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982, from a private European vendor, which reached its top estimate of £18,400.
Ten vintages of Petrus, also coming from a private continental cellar, produced notable results - £12,650 for six bottles of 1990, £10,950 for a dozen 1995 and £11,960 for six bottles of the 2000 vintage. The 2000 vintage also saw the top price for Chateau Latour at £8,050 for a dozen.
Separately, demand for top vintage Champagnes is also holding up. An index tracking the price of 25 of the top vintage Champagnes has risen 27% in the past year, outperforming the broader wine market as well as most equity markets.
The impressive gains posted by the Liv-Ex Champagne 25 index come on the back of record prices being paid for 1996 vintage bubbly from the likes of Krug, Louis Roederer Cristal and Dom Perignon. The price of a 12 bottle case of 1996 Krug has risen from £1,500 a year ago to £2,350, an increase of 56%. The price of the same vintage of Dom Perignon is up 42% in the past year.
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