California Wine outperforms broader market ahead of Independence Day
Rising volumes of Californian wine traded
There has been plenty of activity in the American market over June, especially those coming from California. Cases of Kongsgaard’s Kings Farm Red 2018 and Ridge’s Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 both traded recently and although neither wine is their parent estate’s top label, it reflects a trend of broadening trade in the California market. So far this year 154 Californian wines (measured as LWIN7s) have traded in the secondary market, versus 145 from January to June 2021.
California has taken a 7.3% share of total trade by value in the first sixth months of 2022 – on a par with the same period in 2021. Screaming Eagle’s 2019 vintage has been the third most-traded wine by value in the first half of 2022.
The California 50 has been one of the best-performing wine indices year-to-date, up 7.5% and trailing only the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 which is up 10.3%.
However, it is the best-performing index over the last one year (see chart above), up 26.1%, and driven by the rising value of wines such as Ridge Monte Bello 2011, Harlan Estate 2009 and 2011 and the 2010 and 2011 vintages of Screaming Eagle.
Source: Liv-Ex
