Fine wine news

Two indices converged on the Liv-ex Fine Wine Exchange last week.

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50, which tracks the daily price movement of the Bordeaux first growths, and the Liv-ex Claret Chip, which tracks the top-scoring Bordeaux First Growths that have scored more than 95 points from Robert Parker, crossed paths.

Analysing why this might be, the Liv-ex blog suggests that Robert Parker's influence over the fine wine market had been waning, but noted that now he could be back in favour as investors view returns in relation to quality this year.

"Five years ago, critical opinion was a key factor in determining how well a wine would perform on the secondary market," it explained.

"From 2008 onwards, however, demand from brand-conscious Chinese buyers boosted the value of more affordable first growths, and Parker scores became increasingly irrelevant to price performance."

The Claret Chip historically has outperformed the Fine Wine 50 benchmark, but when looking at the performance of the indices, the gap between them has narrowed from 16 per cent in August 2006 to less than one per cent last year, with the Fine Wine 50 taking the lead in July 2011. Now, the Claret Chip is catching up once more.

Posted by Paula Henderson