Year That Was 2018 – Fine Wine vs. Gold

Anthony Maxwell, Liv-ex Director
08 Jan 2019 | News & Views

With Christmas behind us, we take a look at the performance of fine wine compared to gold in 2018. As the chart below shows, fine wine, as represented by the industry benchmark—the Liv-ex 100—has been very stable in the past year.

Both fine wine and gold have long been considered safe havens due to their tangibility, and therefore lower volatility, against other mainstream assets. This year, the Liv-ex 100 traded within a narrow 2% range, making it even more stable than gold.

Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 vs Gold (year-to-date)

https://robert-parker-content-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/media/image/2019/01/03/c0a1b9d6422345a9b62f19ae0a126e3f_gold-vs-100.png

However, there is another explanation for fine wine’s stability, aside from tangibility. The Liv-ex 100, denominated in sterling, can play hostage to the gyrations of the currency markets. The pound’s relatively stable performance against the euro in 2018 has been reflected in the benchmark index.

Liv-ex-100 Month-on-Month Movements

https://robert-parker-content-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/media/image/2019/01/08/ae04143880a2417f9a1b965b8a468fba_4+%281%29.PNG

Readers should take note that the views of this author represent those of a company with an interest in the wine trade. Liv-ex operates the global marketplace for fine wine. It offers trading, data and settlement services to professional buyers and sellers of fine wine. Private collectors can view Liv-ex prices and value their portfolios using Cellar Watch and find regular market analysis on the blog. The opinions of Liv-ex are their own and do not represent those of Robert Parker Wine Advocate or Wine Journal. Liv-ex contributes articles to Wine Journal that we feel are of market relevance to readers, but we do not specifically endorse this company.

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Year That Was 2018 – Fine Wine vs. Gold

Anthony Maxwell, Liv-ex Director

Want to learn more about wine? Follow Robert Parker Wine Advocate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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