A look into Burgundy’s power moves in 2022

by Wine Owners

Posted on 2022-12-15

The latest Liv-ex Power 100 performance saw Burgundy sweep the top 5 spots, pushing fellow blue-chip region Bordeaux out for the first time – ever. The index ranks the best performing brands in the fine wine secondary market based on criteria including price performance and trade performance of wines across a brands portfolio.

In a nutshell, Domaine Leroy claimed the top spot for the second year in a row, while Arnoux-Lachaux, Leflaive and Prieure Roch jumped over 30 places to nestle within the top 5. Spurred by a fall in wine supply (enter difficult harvests over the last decade) and a rise in demand (cue a resettling of the fine wine market post Brexit, a lifting of Trump’s US tariffs on French wines and pandemic recovery), Burgundian wine prices have been steadily rising.

We speculate on why and whether this is sustainable:

Accessibility

What is profound about the strong performance of Burgundian wines is the inclusion of Maison (négociant) labels in the data pool. Burgundy is a unique region in that producers can also sell wines as négociants. Wines made under these labels are made from outsourced grape, grape juice and/or fermented wines made or grown by other farmers. The prize in this is that collectors that miss out on rarer and higher priced Domaine wines can now access excellent wines of these esteemed brands at lower prices.

Ironically, the consideration of négociant labels for a specific brand in the Power 100 index calculations has now contributed to massive price jumps for these wines.

For example, for 60 place jumper on the Index Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, the inclusion of micro-négoce label Charles Lachaux, amplified the trade volume and value of the brand. It now sits pretty at second place right after Domaine Leroy, which also trades Maison labels. On the other hand, these initially relatively accessible wines (Charles Lachaux) had a price jump of over 1,000%. Though including Maison labels is expected to dilute the price of the stronger Domaine labels and therefore the average price of the brand, the price performance of Domaine wines has been impressive. A random search on Wine Owners of any of the Domaine’s wines will show this as true.

Similarly, 4th placed Domaine Leflaive, whose wine range now include négociant partnerships under the labels Esprit Leflaive and Leflaive et Associés, showed its strength this year by ranking fourth and laudable average price performance of nearly 100% since last year.

While we do not claim to undermine other market forces such as dwindling Burgundy supply and the general revere of one of the best wind regions in the world, it is an interesting explanatory to consider while examining Burgundy’s continuous price rise.

Could this signal that the “accessibility” offerings that are unique to Burgundy are helpful in their brand power? Maybe. As there is only so much fine Burgundy wine to go around, the desire for collectors to get as close to the cru wines, négociant driven wines are clearly wanted in the market.

The sustainability of this trend is yet to be seen but Burgundy is still a force. Though the Wine Owners (WO) 80 Burgundy index dipped slightly last month, prices look like they will keep staying up. Strong brand name and reputation, strict supply, and the irreplaceability of Burgundy should maintain the index, which has significantly outperformed the WO 150, Dow Jones, Bordeaux 750 and Italy 150 for the latter part of this year.

Here's what’s active in our fine wine exchange from the top 5 Liv-ex Power Burgundy brands: