After years of decline it would appear that the worst is finally over for the secondary market after a dull but mercifully flat year.

As the year is not yet over the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index may yet finish in the red – for the fifth year running – but the more positive turn to the market from summer of 2014 until September of this year should have been enough to stop most of the damage.

Liv-ex stated: “While market sentiment definitely remains on the side of caution as we move into 2016, the levelling off of the Liv-ex indices this year has at least broken the downward cycle of previous years.”

As Bordeaux trading sunk back to levels not seen since 2004, the rise of the Burgundy, Italian, Champagne and ‘Rest of the World’ indices has brought some much-needed positivity to the market.

The Burgundy 150 and Rest of the World 50 (both sub-indices of the Fine Wine 1000) both reached record highs this year, while Italy, Champagne and the RoW indices substantially upped their share of trade on the Liv-ex platform.

Italy and Champagne have in fact now overtaken Burgundy as the most traded regions behind Bordeaux though Burgundy is still a far more valuable part of the overall market – albeit with a yawning chasm opening up beneath it.

The US also surged this year, building its market share to 2.1% on the back of strong price performances by Scarecrow and Screaming Eagle. US brands now almost rival the Rhône’s 2.3% market share.

Liv-ex’s best-performing wines from the FW 1000 (see chart below) reflects this increasingly broad and diverse marketplace and keen-eyed observers will note that the three Bordeaux labels on the list are all from the 2005 vintage and each received upgrades to a ‘perfect’ 100-points in Robert Parker’s retrospective this summer. 

Read more at source | The Drinks Business