Fine wine prices have been pretty flat in 2026, although some top names are up slightly over 12 months after a gentle rally in late 2025, said Geraint Carter of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform.
Data on prestige Champagne, one of the better-performing market segments, illustrates the point (see table, below). Miles Davis of Vinum Fine Wines offered a similar sentiment: ‘I think overall prices are stable, but it’s still a buyer’s market,’ he said.
‘You can still get deals.’ Vinum saw a notable uptick in Champagne sales in July, Davis said, led by Salon; other top sellers included Cristal Rosé, Krug and Jacques Selosse.
At Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, the multi-region Liv-ex 1000 index was up 1.2% in 12 months to 30 July. Its Champagne 50 sub-index outperformed, rising 0.9% in July and 2.6% in a year.
It was also up 8.7% in five years, although it hasn’t been a straight road.
For example, Liv-ex analysed Salon and said the 2012 vintage was ‘trading actively’ at £7,000 to £8,000 (12x75cl, in bond), noting it was released in 2021 at £5,800 and swiftly climbed to £13,300 before a subsequent market downturn.
Carter said top-tier Champagne has ‘taken its pain’, adding: ‘It’s a great time to be a Champagne buyer with such quality out there.’
Yet, he doesn’t expect prices to surge in the near-term, citing ongoing available stock levels. One general area to watch this autumn is the US auction scene.
Charles Antin, global head of auctions at Zachys, told Decanter that recent sales have been exceptionally strong.
‘We are having to revise our estimates upwards to keep up with a buoyant market, which is a strong sign for sellers.’
Zachys’ mid-year review reported a surge in demand for ‘super second’ Bordeaux this year, including Château Montrose, and stronger collector thirst for leading California wines.
(Image credit: Future)
The Bordeaux Index view
Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com
Champagne conundrum
The Champagne market finds itself in an awkward, if familiar, position. After the manic exuberance of 2020-2022 and the swingeing correction that followed, prestige Champagne prices have settled into what has the makings of a prolonged rut.
At the mass-market end, things are arguably even less comfortable, with consumption and shipments continuing to decline.
The priority, more than ever, is getting consumers drinking again. In this context, price hikes ought to be off the table. This is not an easy message for the Champenois.
Costs have risen substantially over the past decade, while the increasingly extreme weather of recent years is a clear warning that, over the longer term, Champagne will need higher prices simply to compensate for the volatility of a more challenging production environment.
But that’s longer-term. For now, the stellar vintages of 2018, 2019 and 2020 are working through the system and will add considerable supply at the prestige end.
Total volumes may be falling, but that doesn’t automatically create pricing power when demand is, at best, flat and existing stocks remain plentiful.
The finer end cannot indefinitely act as a cash cow for shortcomings in the broader market.
Champagne rarely volunteers restraint; more often, the market imposes it. For now, keeping a lid on prices and getting corks popping ought to be the overwhelming priority.
Higher prices may be inevitable, but not yet.
(Image credit: Bordeaux Index)
Penfolds Grange 2022 makes its debut
(Image credit: Penfolds)
This year’s Penfolds Collection release has included the 2022 vintage of the producer’s legendary South Australian wine Grange.
Rated the full 100 points by Decanter’s Australia editor Julie Sheppard at a preview tasting, Bin 95 Grange 2022 debuted on 6 August alongside the wider Penfolds Collection, also featuring St Henri Shiraz 2023.
It comes 75 years after winemaker Max Schubert’s first experimental iteration of Grange in 1951.
While Penfolds offered Grange 2022 in a gift box to winery members at A$850 per bottle, prices may vary on the market.
In Europe, it was due to be released via La Place de Bordeaux on 8 September. For collectors interested in back vintages, Penfolds also released a ninth edition of the Rewards of Patience publication.
A panel of leading tasters and critics reviewed more than 500 Penfolds wines, back to the 1952 Grange.
Auction record for Judgement of Paris wine
(Image credit: Stags Leap Vineyard)
A new world record auction price for a California wine that shot to fame in the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting 50 years ago has been announced by Christie’s.
A bottle of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ Stag’s Leap Vineyard (SLV) Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 sold for $22,500 (£16,657), including buyer’s premium, at a Christie’s online auction of wines sourced directly from the Napa Valley producer’s cellars.
That’s a record auction price for the wine, which eclipsed a pre-sale high estimate of $6,000 in the Los Angelesbased sale, Christie’s said.
The 1973 vintage is famous for having outshone top Bordeaux reds in the Judgement of Paris blind tasting organised by Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher in the French capital in 1976.
Half a century later, supplies are relatively scarce. A Christie’s spokesperson told Decanter that, after this year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, there will be 19 bottles of the SLV Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 left at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.
Another lies alongside a Californian white wine star of the same tasting, Chateau Montelena 1973, in the Smithsonian collection of American historical artefacts.
Juan Muñoz-Oca, estates director at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, said the recent Christie’s auction result is ‘a powerful testament to the enduring legacy of the 1973 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon and the vision of our founder Warren Winiarski’.
In 2022, Heritage Auctions sold a bottle of the wine for $12,300, a record auction price at the time.
Disclaimer:
Decanter’s Market Watch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.
