The Summer in Brief
Typically the summer months are a quiet period for fine wine investment, with the great and the good sunning themselves in the Med or such like, and the Bordeaux merchants shut down for their month-long rest. Not so much in 2017 however; we have seen surprisingly robust trade through July and August. GBP/EUR has been an important theme with really strong demand from the usually quiet Bordeaux trade, and continued demand from the East doing a very fine job of propping up (and indeed, growing) prices.
Many merchants are already anecdotally reporting mixed experiences in Q3 but (and we are not alone in this) at BI, sentiment is upbeat ahead of the heart of the Autumn trading season. With the ex-Place releases of an increasing number of wines from across the world, including some new 100-pointers from Chile, the ‘Italian Stallions’ of Masseto, Solaia et al, not to mention some greats of the Rhone, interest in the wine market has been reassuringly high. There are plenty of reasons to be positive heading into the final third of 2017.
As some things change, some things stay the same, and so it is with Bordeaux. Typically, Lafite has led the pack in demand with a small but welcome resurgence in interest in Haut Brion and Margaux after a small period off the radar. Whilst serious collectors remain focused on their pursuit of prime vintage quarry, it is ‘off prime’ vintages (e.g. 12, 13, 14 – although the quality in the latter is actually rather better than the others) remaining most sought of physical stock. Interestingly in the wake of 2016 En Primeur, renewed interest in 2015 has also been a feature.
Next month we will summarise Q3 in more detail with our quarterly report, so watch this space.
LiveTrade and its growing market
The story of 2017 at BI has been the rapid growth in interest, and use of, our unique LiveTrade platform. It seems that wine collectors from all over, including long-term existing clients and those completely new to our throng, are waking up to the power of our live bid. Indeed, since the turn of the year we have grown our number of monthly online trades by over 90% and the majority of these new entrants are using LiveTrade to sell their wine to us. In fact, in August 2017, almost 40% of the total of our Purchasing for LiveTrade stock was done by clients themselves selling back through the platform.
So why does it work so well?
Buying wine is often an emotional thing: you buy with your heart as much as your head. Our sales team shape their service and recommendations to each client, and use their considerable personal drinking and collecting experience to help you achieve your aims. However, selling wine can be a different business – maybe you feel you ‘backed the wrong horse’ or got seduced by high-scoring wines that deep down you knew weren’t really to your tastes. Selling can feel like an admission that you got it wrong.
We don’t agree. Part of being a collector is that you let a few things go from time to time. There’s no shame in it; tastes change. But rather than waiting for a valuation and negotiating the various pitfalls of selling your cases back to a merchant (especially if you didn’t buy the wine from them in the first place) if your wine is listed on LiveTrade, and it meets our terms and conditions, EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T BUY IT FROM US, you can sell it to us in a few clicks. We offer guaranteed, extremely competitive buying prices for hundreds of the world’s top wines, giving you a hassle-free, haggle-free way of reinvesting your wine wealth into that birth year case you’ve always wanted, or that hot new grower you’ve just discovered.
There’s a reason more people than ever are using LiveTrade. Why not take a look and find out for yourself?