How did the year turn out in the Fine Wine Market?

It was a good year for fine wine in 2011 with auction houses  reporting solid sales but the Bordeaux market and prices are expected to fall further in 2012.


Wine sales at auction house in 2011:
-Acker Merrall & Condit topped $110 million,
-Christie's sales are more than $90 million,
-Sotheby's wine auctions hit $85,5 million,
-Bonhams finished at $17 million.


Richard Harvey predicts prices for Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and Mouton will
 remain stables, or even dip further in the first three months of 2012. Cases of 1982 Lafite, which sold in March more than $60 000 a case were fetching less than $45 000 at auction. The dip makes it unlikely that the 300 bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rotschild with vintages between 1981 and 2005 that was sold more than $539 000 will reach that level again soon.
Prices for Burgundy, specifically Domaine Romanee-Conti, are expected to remain high because the amount of wines produced in the region is so small. But in Burgundy, auction prices were lower this year. At the Hospices de Beaune auction in November, where wealthy wine enthusiasts bid in a yearly sale whose proceeds are donated to charity, the average prices were down by 6,2 percent for reds and 12,9 percent for whites.


The fine wine market is in constant evolution and we can have a pretty good outook in terms of the growth of this market in the long term. There will be new new byers, new collectors, new drinkers from around the world.