Fine wine news

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index has closed January on the first positive growth for six months, providing a huge boost for the fine wine investment industry.

January closed at 290.30 earlier this week, an increase of 3.97 points or 1.39 per cent.

The index is the wine industry's leading benchmark and represents the price movement of 100 of the most sought-after fine wines.

According to the Exchange, the turnaround was caused by a stabilisation in the price of premier crus.

It had suffered a fall between July and December after a price correction of first growth wines and 2011 ended on a disappointing drop of 20 per cent.

However, other Liv-ex indices have also shown a step towards positive growth for the start of a new year.

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50, which tracks the daily price movement of the ten most recent vintages of Bordeaux first growths, closed the month at 341, a rise of 1.9 per cent.

In addition, the Fine Wine Investables Index, which tracks around 200 wines from 24 top Bordeaux which are considered to be the most 'investable' wines, grew by 0.5 per cent.

Further reflecting that 2012 could be a positive year for the wine industry, January's fine wine auctions have got off to a good start.

Last week's Christie's auction raised $1.2 million (£750,000), with the top lots going to Asian buyers, while Sotheby's first sale of the year raised £1.6 million.

Both auction houses also achieved around 96 per cent sell-through rate by lot, indicating a good number of buyers attending the auctions.

Trends could be changing, however, with more investors seeking out rare bottles of Burgundy as well as Bordeaux seconds, either to expand their portfolio or to go in search of value wines during the tough economic climate.

Posted by Helen Jenkins