All eyes on Château Latour…
This summer we are set for a battle royal for the fine wine investments crown, between seemingly uncatchable Château Lafite-Rothschild and mighty Château Latour. Latour, considered by many to be the holy grail of fine claret, is set to come to the very forefront of wine investment in the coming months, as it is crowned ‘wine of the vintage’ for 2009.
The fine wine investments face off
On like-for-like vintages, Lafite is currently dramatically more expensive than Latour, but the price differential is almost entirely a consequence of the Rothschild moniker – which gave Lafite unparalled kudos in China, creating huge demand and sky-rocketing prices – and little to do with quality.
In fact, on a comparison of Robert Parker’s gradings of the bottled vintage of the Noughties (00-07), Latour matches or beats Lafite no less than five times.
By an arm and a leg, 2009 is the most high profile and eagerly anticipated En Primeur campaign of all time, with consequent calamitous media attention. Interest in Latour in China and Asia has been gaining momentum recently and Liv-ex reports that it is now the fastest growing wine in the market. The unprecedented attention expected for the ‘09 will surely expedite this.
Price comparison
Certainly the bold, powerful style of the Château suits the Asian palette, and we expect prices to rally over coming months as demand unfolds. The chart below, with the average price reported on Liv-ex together with Robert Parker grades, show just what remarkable value Latour compared to Lafite is on the vintages we fancy … for now.
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We are recommending investment in back vintage offerings from Château Latour and would expect prices to rally once the 09 is released.
If you want to find out more about London wine investment opportunities with Amphora, have a through our services here, or stay tuned to our blog for more on our outlooks.