The annual ranking of the top 100 fine wine brands in 2018 has been published by Liv-ex in its annual Power 100 Report. Liv-ex compiles the grading from a list of all the wines traded on the exchange during the 12-month period from the 1stSeptember 2017 to 31stAugust 2018 and then groups them by brand. Those that have traded more than £10,000 in value (or three unique wines), qualify for the ranking. This year more than 5,700 different wines / vintages traded on Liv-ex, which were then grouped into 953 brands, 248 of which qualified to then be put forward for the ranking.
Brands were graded using four criteria:
- Year-on year price performance (based on the price of a case of wine on the 1stSeptember 2017 with its market price on 31stAugust 2018)
- Trading performance on Liv-ex measured by volume and value
- Number of unique wines traded
- The average price of a case of wine per brand
A new development which has impacted on the scores in 2018 is the consolidation of Burgundy labels, bringing commonly owned maisons and domaines’ trading figures together.
Power 100 2018 – Top 10 fine wine brands
| Wine | Ranking 2018 | Ranking 2017 | Value traded | Average trade price | Price growth |
| Leroy | 1 | N/A* | £941,416 | £1,806 | 58.2% |
| Lafite Rothschild | 2 | 1 | £4,291,972 | £4,374 | 14.0% |
| DRC | 3 | 4 | £1,439,782 | £30,472 | 33.5% |
| Mouton Rothschild | 4 | 3 | £2,753,790 | £3,946 | 13.8% |
| Margaux | 5 | 2 | £1,876,280 | £4,332 | 11.9% |
| Haut-Brion | 6 | 9 | £2,071,514 | £3,358 | 11.5% |
| Armand Rousseau | 7 | 8 | £305,954 | £6,420 | 42.7% |
| Petrus | 8 | 10 | £1,597,597 | £23,963 | 15.4% |
| Coche Dury | 9 | 54 | £296,620 | £5,384 | 23.6% |
| Latour | 10 | 12 | £1,606,409 | £3,442 | 8.4% |
Source: Liv-ex.com
Burgundy’s star has been in the ascendancy throughout 2018 and this is reflected in the increased number of its brands making the Power 100 and the fact that 14 of the top 20 price performers are from the region. Domaine Leroy has benefited hugely from the global increase in demand for Burgundy’s top wines. It tops the Power 100 ranking in spectacular fashion, having achieved this, for the first time, through the amalgamation of the trading statistics of Maison and Domaine Leroy. Last year Domaine Leroy ranked 94thand Maison Leroy didn’t make the top 100 at all, so this year’s position is all the more impressive. DRC tops the chart in terms of the highest prices achieved and another 13 Burgundy brands make the top 20 in price performance.
Growing demand from wine investors for the very best wines of Tuscany, Champagne and the US, alongside the broadening choice of Burgundy labels, has impacted on Bordeaux’s Liv-ex market share, which we have watched decline over the year.
Bordeaux labels making the top 100 have reduced from 53 in the 2017 ranking to 45 in 2018, with 12 wines from the region seeing their 2017 listing fall significantly. The First Growths and Pomerol top brands Petrus and Le Pin continue to perform strongly in terms of volumes traded and price performance. Liv-ex Director, Justin Gibbs comments on their performance stating that the demand for Bordeaux’s big brands is not declining “it’s more that other brands are on the move and have pushed them out” of the ranking.
This shift in share is also a result of the overall market size having achieved record highs this year in terms of the total number of wines traded on Liv-ex and the overall exposure, now consistently over £50million for the first time. As mentioned above, the total number of wines traded grew from 4,000 (from 750 producers) in 2017, to 5,700 wines (953 brands) this year.
Trade magazine, The Drinks Business, publishes the data compiled by Liv-ex in an article which makes for interesting reading.
We will expand further on this in our end of year Fine Wine Market report which will be available in the New Year.
In the meantime, we are heading off to enjoy some great wine and festive spirits and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!