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Can You Improve Fine Wine Portfolio Performance With The First Growths’ Second Wines?

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When planning the strategic composition of your fine wine portfolio and ongoing acquisition strategy you will most likely consider diversifying your holdings around a core of highly liquid, blue-chip Bordeaux First Growths.

The performance of the Bordeaux First Growths (Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux and Haut Brion) is tracked by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 index, which has risen 250% since data first started being collected in 2003. This provides an average indicator of the increase in the values of First Growth vintages traded, but of course some have enjoyed greater growth than this despite the challenging period between 2011 to 2014.

What is perhaps less well understood is the performance of the second wines from Bordeaux’s flagship wine estates and whether they offer the potential for investors to diversify into other wines of this region?

The Second Wine 50 index records the performance of Carruades Lafite, Forts Latour, Petit Mouton, Pavillon Rouge and Bahans. Haut Brion’s second wine has varied between Bahans and Le Clarence de Haut Brion and is now recognised as the latter but Liv-ex records have used the former for a study published this week due to the vintage focus.

The Second Wine 50 has risen an impressive 670% in the same period from 2003, with some wines now trading at higher levels than the en primeur release prices of their chateau’s Grand Vins. Liv-ex points out that the current prices of some second wines would have bought you a First Growth wine 15 years ago.

Liv-ex has published details of those second wines trading above the first release price of their senior stable mates since the 2000 vintage, the details of which can be seen in the table.

First wine / Second wineVintageFirst wine release priceSecond wine last tradeDifference
Lafite / Carruades2002£680£2,200£1,520
Lafite / Carruades2000£1,850£2,832£982
Lafite / Carruades2004£950£1,920£970
Latour / Forts Latour2002£680£1,500£820
Lafite / Carruades2001£900£1,705£805
Margaux/ Pavilion Rouge2001£900£1.450£550
Margaux/ Pavilion Rouge2002£730£1,245£515
Lafite / Carruades2008£1,850£2,350£500
Haut Brion / Bahans2002£695£1,136£441
Lafite / Carruades2003£1,795£2,190£395
Margaux/ Pavilion Rouge2004£950£1,285£335
Latour / Forts Latour2001£950£1,160£200
Margaux/ Pavilion Rouge2000£1,595£1,750£155
Latour / Forts Latour2004£1,200£1,350£150
Haut Brion / Bahans2001£950£980£30
Latour / Forts Latour2008£1,590£1,615£25
Margaux/ Pavilion Rouge2008£1,590£1,600£10

Source: Liv-ex.com 24th October 2017

Lafite Rothchild’s second wine, Carruades Lafite, is probably the top performing First Growth second wine. The table shows that the 2002 vintage saw Carruades traded at 200% more than the original release price of Lafite Rothschild 2002 in June this year, and an eye-popping 1,150% more than its own release price.

The performance reported by Liv-ex is impressive but we would caution investors to be careful on the inclusion of Second Wines in their portfolios and to do so strategically over the long term. For more information, speak to a member of our team on 0203 384 2262