The Liv-ex Bordeaux Classification

The Liv-ex Bordeaux Classification was created in 2009 by the London International Vintners Exchange,[1] the global marketplace for the wine trade. The classification of 2009 was inspired by the historical Bordeaux Classification[2] and ranked the wines of the Bordeaux Left Bank solely on the price that each wine was worth at the time. Since then, the classification has expanded to reflect the changing conditions of the market for fine wine, and has been updated in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The latter extended beyond Bordeaux to include wines from the rest of the world for the first time.

The Liv-ex Classification 2019, published in July 2019, is a league table that ranks the wines of the world by their average trade prices on Liv-ex. Based on the transactional activity of the world’s largest pool of fine wine merchants, it reflects the changing buying patterns of the trade today.

Criteria and Calculation

To construct the 2019 Liv-ex Classification, the following methodology was applied. In order to qualify for the ranking, a wine must have traded on Liv-ex between 30 April 2018 and the 1st May 2019 in either a 75cl or 150cl bottle format. Standard in Bond, Standard En Primeur and Duty Paid trades were all considered, except for Burgundy, Champagne, Australia and the USA, where Special trades were also permitted.

Furthermore, four or more vintages of a wine must have traded on Liv-ex during this period in order to qualify. Once a wine qualified for inclusion in the rankings, the average trade price per 12x75cl was calculated by dividing the total value traded by the number of 9L cases traded (i.e the volume). The price bands are updated every two years to reflect the changing conditions of the market. The price bands for the Liv-ex Classification 2019 are as follows: 1st tier £2,877 - N/A; 2nd tier £792 - £2,876; 3rd tier £504 - £791; 4th tier £360 -£503; 5th tier £288 - £359.

2019 Highlights

Key findings:

  • Wines from nine countries qualified, compared to six in 2017
  • Pomerol estate Violette entered the rankings for the first time and placed in the 1st tier
  • The introduction of still white wines to the methodology paved the way for a German Riesling to rank in the 2nd tier for the first time ever
  • Burgundy accounted for 29% of the wines that qualified and 57% of those in the top tier

Using Bordeaux as the benchmark, but basing the prices on the real transactional activity of the world’s largest pool of fine wine merchants, the Liv-ex Classification of 2019 reflects the changing buying patterns of the trade today. You can read the full classification here.[3]

Background

Liv-ex, the London International Vintners Exchange, was founded in 2000 by two stockbrokers, James Miles and Justin Gibbs. It started with a group of 10 founding members in London, and a vision to make fine wine trading more transparent, efficient and safe. The founders believed that by creating an online exchange they could grow the size of the market for the benefit of Liv-ex’s merchant members and everyone with an interest in fine wine.

References
  1. "Liv-ex - The global marketplace for the wine trade. Price, source & sell wine". Liv-ex. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  2. "Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855", Wikipedia, 2019-06-13, retrieved 2019-07-31
  3. Liv-ex (2019-07-31). "The Liv-ex Classification 2019". Liv-ex. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
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