A period of price declines on the fine wine secondary market could be flattening out, according to the views of merchants and other businesses responding to a survey by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade.
‘Most market participants feel that prices are close to bottoming out,’ said Liv-ex this week, after surveying is trade members.
Not that a significant upswing is necessarily anticipated in 2025. Several respondents suggested the market presently has ‘no impetus to rise’ and that any recovery may be relatively gradual.
Fine wine prices have fallen back in the past couple of years amid more subdued trading. This, however, follows a boom period between 2020 and late 2022.
Liv-ex asked trade members what they expected to happen in 2025 to its Liv-ex 100 index, which is one barometer of secondary market performance.
On average, the survey predicted the index to drop 1.9% this year. It fell by 9.1% in 2024.
Trade forecasts for the Liv-ex 100 in 2025. Chart credit: Liv-ex.
Nearly 27% of survey respondents said they expected the Liv-ex 100 to run flat in 2025, with most others split between a small increase and a small further decrease.
European Union-based merchants were the least optimistic group of respondents, said Liv-ex.
Despite the recent challenging market, Liv-ex indices and figures provided to Decanter’s Market Watch by international merchant Bordeaux Index have indicated that some of the most prominent blue-chip Burgundy, Champagne and SuperTuscan wines remain more expensive than five years ago.
Liv-ex said one UK survey respondent reported that ‘buyers are increasingly perceiving “incredible value” at current prices’.
However, Liv-ex added, ‘Many respondents voiced concerns over looming US tariffs, high interest rates, inflationary pressures and general economic uncertainty.’
Liv-ex also reported merchant concerns around the pricing of new releases, and a ‘supply-demand imbalance’ in the market.
Miles Davis, market expert at merchant Vinum Fine Wines, highlighted the fine wine market’s track record of long-term value growth in his January 2025 report.
‘I am not predicting the wine market indices will post any gains this year, but I am sure 2025 will throw up some highly attractive opportunities, in terms of both quality and rarity of stocks and their price levels,’ he wrote.
This might include rare Bordeaux from great vintages, and Champagne in magnums, he suggested.
Auction houses have continued to report demand for rare lots. Christie’s recently highlighted 1960s Comte Georges de Vogüé Burgundy wines at a London auction in February.
A five-bottle lot of de Vogüé, Bonne Mares 1962 sold for £47,500, including buyer’s premium – far outpacing a pre-sale high estimate of £9,000, Christie’s said.
Meanwhile, US-based Zachys said in its recent Year in Review that it saw market sentiment ‘steadily improving’ in 2024.
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Source : https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/fine-wine-prices-liv-ex-survey-2025-551763/