Wine and billionaires

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Liv-ex, the fine wine trading exchange and wine market analyst,  have come up with this thought-provoking graphic, plotting the number of billionaires known to exist with their fine wine index.

Liv_ex100vBillionaires

 livex100

As you can see from the lower graph, the relentless rise in wine prices seems to be tailing off now – perhaps not surprisingly. Anthony Maxwell of Liv-ex reports, "it's a buyer's market for the first time in more than three years. First growth 2005s are under a lot of pressure, and indeed the firsts across the board to a certain extent. But the buyers are still there (at the right price) and activity on the exchange is right up there".

Indeed. A look at the average transaction price for Ch Lafite 2005 on www.liv-ex.com  shows a fall of nearly 20% in the last two months.

Look out for my tasting notes on top 2005 red bordeaux, tasted earlier this month, which will be published soon.