A 12-bottle case of 2010 wine from Vieux Chateau Certan, an estate in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux, sold for 2,111 pounds ($3,300) on the Liv-ex wine market in the past week, the vintage’s highest level in 18 months.
The transaction came as investor and collector attention has switched from some of the Medoc first-growth labels in recent months in search of value elsewhere in Bordeaux or other regions. The sale is the most that the wine has garnered since two six-bottle cases went for 2,200 pounds in January 2014.
Wine buyers are still looking for signs of stability in the market after a turbulent seven years, sparked first by the 2008 financial crisis, then a bull market led by Asian demand for Chateau Lafite Rothschild, and more recently a selloff driven by China’s crackdown on lavish gift-giving. High prices for 2010 Bordeaux wine discouraged buyers in the U.S. and U.K. while lesser 2011 to 2013 vintages proved hard to sell.
Bordeaux’s “average monthly share is 74.2 per cent so far this year compared to 79 per cent in 2014,” Liv-ex’s latest monthly Cellar Watch report said of trading on the exchange. “Back in 2010 it took 95.2 per cent.”
Pomerol Plateau
Vieux Chateau Certan’s vineyards extend over 14 hectares (35 acres) of the Pomerol plateau, according to its website.
The estate was acquired almost a century ago by Belgian merchant Georges Thienpont and grandson Alexandre Thienpont runs the property today. Nearby top estates include Petrus, Le Pin, Chateau La Conseillante and Chateau L’Evangile.
The vineyard is planted with 65 per cent merlot, 30 per cent cabernet franc and 5 per cent cabernet sauvignon grapes, according to data from the Cocks et Feret Bordeaux wine survey, and produces about 60,000 bottles of wine a year.
The average Liv-ex bottle price for Vieux Chateau Certan for the 10 vintages to 2013 exceeded that for top Medoc estates including Chateau Cos d’Estournel, Chateau Montrose and Chateau Leoville Las Cases, according to a Liv-ex survey of Bordeaux published before this year’s trade tastings in March and April and based on January data.
Its 2010 vintage has fluctuated since coming to market, falling as low as 1,725 pounds a case in July 2012 and climbing as high as 2,425 pounds a case in November 2013.
The vintage is currently the highest priced of any available Vieux Chateau Certan wine since 1982.
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