The benchmark Liv-ex 100 Index has dipped for the first time in 17 months.
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The industry benchmark Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index closed April on 302.69, down 0.5% on the previous month. This is the first monthly decline for the index in 17 months, bringing the longest period of sustained rises on record to an end.
Despite the dip, the index has outperformed other indices over one year including FTSE and Gold.
The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index, which tracks the prices of the Bordeaux First Growths, also dipped in April. It closed on 341.38, down 0.4%. As the chart below shows, the index has previously faltered around this level before moving decisively up or down.
With elections around the corner and the En Primeur campaign about to warm up, this pause has come at an interesting time. How the Bordeaux 2016s are priced – and received – will surely help to determine its next move.
Liv-ex Director Justin Gibbs commented: “We have reached an interesting point in the cycle. After a sustained period of recovery from the end of 2015, boosted by Sterling’s decline against the Dollar and Euro, the market is facing some resistance. It comes on the eve of the Bordeaux 2016 release – a vintage of both quality and quantity. There are some interesting parallels to the 2010 release – in terms of both the quality of the vintage, and the shape of the market into which it is sold. Just like that release, getting the price right will be crucial to determining the broader market’s future direction.”
