When investors ask 'how is fine wine performing?', they are usually referring — whether they know it or not — to one of the Liv-Ex family of indices. Liv-Ex is the professional fine wine trade's benchmark exchange and its indices are the closest equivalent the market has to an equity index.
The Liv-Ex 100
The Liv-Ex 100 is the headline index — the most cited figure in fine wine investment reporting. It tracks the mid-market price of the 100 most actively traded wines on the Liv-Ex exchange, weighted by trade frequency.
The Liv-Ex 1000
The Liv-Ex 1000 is the broadest index in the family. It covers 1,000 wines across Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Italy, and the Rest of the World, weighted by price.
The Bordeaux 500 and First Growth 50
Bordeaux 500
The Bordeaux 500 tracks 500 wines across the left bank, right bank, and Sauternes. It is more granular than the 100 for Bordeaux-heavy portfolios, capturing Second and Third Growth movements that the 100 ignores.
First Growth 50
The First Growth 50 tracks the five Bordeaux First Growths — Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, and Haut-Brion — across 10 recent vintages each. It is the most liquid sub-segment of the market.
The right benchmark for a portfolio depends entirely on its regional composition. Using the wrong index is one of the most common mistakes in fine wine performance reporting.
Burgundy 150 and Champagne 50
The Burgundy 150 and Champagne 50 are regional sub-indices that track 150 and 50 wines respectively. The Burgundy 150 has, over the past decade, materially outperformed the broader Liv-Ex 100.