Wine Price Tracker: Insights for Owners

A wine price tracker watches two things at once: the market indices that move fine wine as a whole, and the individual wines you own. To follow your wine prices over time and make informed decisions about your collection, you need to monitor both. This involves understanding how broader market trends, specific regional movements, and individual wine characteristics influence value. By leveraging fine wine market data, you can assess whether to hold your wine for further appreciation, consider its drinking window, or explore selling opportunities. This approach helps you manage your wine as an asset, considering both its potential for enjoyment and its financial trajectory.

Why track your wine's value?

Tracking your wine's value helps you manage your collection as an asset. Wine is considered by some to be an alternative investment, alongside assets like gold bullion or fine art. While most wine is purchased for consumption, some is acquired with the intention to resell it at a higher price in the future. A wine's value often increases as time passes and consumption rises, making the market tighter and access to desirable wines more elusive. Monitoring these trends is key to understanding the potential returns on your holdings and deciding when to act. You can learn more about this in our guide to fine wine investment.

How do market indices help you track wine prices?

Market indices provide a broad overview of fine wine price movements, helping you understand general trends and regional performance. Liv-ex, The London International Vintners Exchange, has been tracking the prices of the world’s most traded fine wines since 2000, using the Liv-ex Mid Price, which it describes as "independent, transaction based data" (Liv-ex). The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index is "the industry leading benchmark for monitoring fine wine prices," representing the price movement of 100 sought-after fine wines on the secondary market (Liv-ex). For a broader market view, the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 tracks 1,000 wines from across the world and is described by Liv-ex as its "broadest measure of the market." This index comprises seven sub-indices, including the Bordeaux 500, Burgundy 150, and Champagne 50 (Liv-ex).

You can see current values and performance across key indices in the table below:

Index	Current Value	MoM	YTD	1yr	2yr	5yr
Liv-ex Fine Wine 50	289.7	0.2%	-0.1%	1.6%	-10%	-22.4%
Liv-ex Fine Wine 100	320.8	0.3%	0.4%	3.3%	-6.8%	-7.4%
Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000	350.7	-0.1%	0.3%	1.2%	-9%	-7.9%
Liv-ex Bordeaux 500	275.2	-0.3%	-0.3%	-0.4%	-12.3%	-18.3%
Liv-ex Burgundy 150	611.6	-0.3%	0.8%	1.9%	-9.1%	3.1%
Liv-ex Champagne 50	500.7	0.9%	1.6%	2.6%	-8.4%	8.7%

Data as of Liv-ex, 2026-08-07

These indices offer insights into specific regions and wine types. For example, the Liv-ex Bordeaux 500 is the "most comprehensive index for Bordeaux wines," while the Burgundy 150 tracks 15 white and red Burgundies, including six Domaine Romanée Conti labels (Liv-ex). Other regional indices cover California, Port, Rhone, Italy, and a "Rest of the World 60" index (Liv-ex). You can explore the live fine wine market index for more details.

What influences a wine's market price?

Several factors contribute to a wine's market price, extending beyond simple supply and demand. A wine's value often increases as consumption rises and the market becomes tighter. Scarcity, therefore, plays a significant role.

Provenance and condition are also critical. For instance, a wine's fill level can impact its perceived quality and value. You can find more information on this in our guide to wine ullage levels explained.

Critic scores also influence prices. Hadj Ali et al. (2007), as cited in the Journal of Wine Economics, found a "positive effect of wine critic Robert Parker’s ratings on the price of Bordeaux wine." This highlights the impact of expert opinion on market perception.

Only a small fraction of global wine production is considered investment grade. "perhaps only 250 produce the sort of premier wines that are worth considering as a financial investment." Furthermore, "about 90 percent of the world’s investment grade wine is produced in the Bordeaux region of France". Other common investment wines include those from Burgundy, cult wines from Europe and elsewhere, and Vintage port. Some consider investment wines to be Veblen goods, meaning "demand for them increases instead of decreases as the price rises".

Does price correlate with enjoyment?

The relationship between a wine's price and the enjoyment it provides is not always straightforward, especially for non-experts. A study published in the Journal of Wine Economics, based on more than 6,000 blind tastings in the US between April 2007 and February 2008, investigated this relationship (Goldstein et al., 2008). The tastings involved 506 participants and 523 different wines, with prices ranging from $1.65 to $150 (Goldstein et al., 2008).

The study found that "individuals who are unaware of the price do not, on average, derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine" (Goldstein et al., 2008). For non-experts, the correlation between price and overall rating was "small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less" (Goldstein et al., 2008). However, for individuals with wine training, who made up about 12% of the participants, there were "indications of a non-negative relationship between price and enjoyment" (Goldstein et al., 2008). The study's OLS estimation predicted that if one wine costs ten times more than another: non-experts would assign an overall rating four points lower for the more expensive wine (on a 100-point scale), while experts would assign an overall rating seven points higher (Goldstein et al., 2008). The point where experts and non-experts were predicted to assign the same rating was at a price of $25.70 (Goldstein et al., 2008).

The study concluded that "non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreci- ated by" (Goldstein et al., 2008).

What are the tax implications of holding wine?

Understanding the tax implications of your wine collection is crucial, especially if you consider selling. In the UK, you may have to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) if you make a profit when you sell a personal possession for £6,000 or more, according to GOV.UK.

However, you generally do not pay Capital Gains Tax on "anything with a limited lifespan, like clocks - unless used for business" (GOV.UK). HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) clarifies that disposals of chattels (tangible moveable property) which are wasting assets are exempt for the purposes of TCGA92, unless Capital Allowances were or could have been claimed, or TCGA92/S45(3B) applies (HMRC Capital Gains Manual). HMRC defines wasting assets as those that "naturally have a predictable life not exceeding 50 years" (HMRC Capital Gains Manual). Fine wine is often considered a wasting asset for CGT purposes due to its finite lifespan.

Beyond CGT, other duties apply to wine. HMRC sets the rate at £30.62 for each litre of pure alcohol in wine (including sparkling wine) with an Alcohol by Volume (ABV) of 8.5% to 22% (HMRC Alcohol Duty rates). When considering the full cost of your wine, including potential duties and taxes, our landed cost calculator can be a useful tool.

What are the practical considerations for holding or selling?

Deciding whether to hold or sell your wine involves practical considerations beyond market price. Holding wine incurs costs. "insurance and storage costs will mean the investor is losing money while waiting for the wine’s value to appreciate." Proper wine storage is essential to maintain condition and value.

Liquidity can also be a challenge, particularly in certain markets. There is "low liquidity in US wine inventory, as most US states will only allow private wine sales through auctions, which themselves may take a commission of 15% to 25%." If you are considering selling, understanding these potential costs and market mechanisms is important. Our guide on how to sell fine wine offers further insights.

Finally, the fine wine market has attracted fraudsters. We warn that Investment in fine wine has attracted fraudsters both in the UK and US. These fraudsters "often works by charging excessively high prices for off-vintage or lower-status wines from famous wine regions, while claiming that it is a sound investment unaffected by economic cycles". For inexperienced investors working with a broker, merchant, or consultant to minimize risk.

Track the value of your fine wines and receive timely notifications on market changes by setting up price alerts on your watchlist.