Wine Prices Drop in 2011

After record high prices in 2010, the price for fine wine has decreased over the last year.
Wine Prices Drop in 2011
A man walks past a poster advertising fine wines at a Sotheby's auction preview in Hong Kong, March 2011. Hong Kong in the past few years has been the world’s pre-eminent wine market, with several recent record-breaking wine auctions, but wine prices have now fallen for three consecutive quarters. (Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)
1/10/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1793881" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/hk111290145.jpg" alt="A man walks past a poster advertising fine wines" width="362" height="472"/></a>
A man walks past a poster advertising fine wines

After record high prices in 2010, the price for fine wine has decreased over the last year.

The benchmark Wine Spectator Auction index for fine wine in the United States experienced a correction, dropping from 341.27 points in the third quarter of 2011 to 333.50 in the fourth quarter, which is equivalent to a decline 2.28 percent. The downward trend occurred for three consecutive quarters in 2011.

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index, which is considered to be the industry’s key statistical indicator, also fell 15 percent in 2011. This index represents the price movement of 100 of the most in demand wines and is mainly comprised of wines from Burgundy; wines from the Rhone, Champagne, and Italy are also represented.

Experts say that the ongoing economic issues in Europe and China have contributed to less demand for high-priced wines.

The auction market for high-end Bordeaux wine on Jan. 25 will perhaps reflect an uptick in demand given that sales were soft in 2011. The European collection will showcase more than 6,000 bottles for auction at Sotheby’s in London for between $2.1 million and $2.7 million. Several wine sales in Hong Kong will also occur after Chinese New Year, which will have a total value in excess of $25 million.

“We’re in a period of consolidation,” Miles Davis, partner at Wine Asset Managers LLP, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “People are still wondering if prices have hit the bottom yet. We are following a similar pattern to 2008 and 2009. I suspect the market will improve by the end of the year.”

According to a Bloomberg report, cases of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1982 were sold for a record HK$1.03 million ($132,700) per case at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in October 2010. Whereas the normal price for such cases is around $33,000. Hong Kong in the past few years has been the world’s pre-eminent wine market, with several recent record-breaking wine auctions.

A case of Chateau Petrus 1982 is considered by experts to be the most valuable of the range, and has an estimated price of $50,000 to $67,000.