Wine investment is more than just acquiring rare bottles—it’s about understanding their value over time. Whether you're a seasoned collector or just starting out, tracking your wine’s performance is key to making informed decisions. Fortunately, several tools and platforms can help you monitor market trends, auction results, and price movements. Here’s everything you need to know about tracking the performance of your wine portfolio.
1. Liv-ex indexes: the wine market’s benchmark
One of the most trusted ways to track the wine market’s performance is through Liv-ex (London International Vintners Exchange). Much like stock market indexes, Liv-ex tracks the global fine wine market through various indexes, including:
- Liv-ex 100 – The industry’s leading index, tracking the most traded investment-grade wines.
- Liv-ex 50 – A focused index following the top five Bordeaux First Growths across recent vintages.
- Liv-ex 1000 – A broader index covering wines from Burgundy, Champagne, Italy, and beyond.
Caption: Liv-ex major indexes. Source: Liv-ex
Understanding these indexes can help you assess market movements and identify trends in the fine wine market. For a deeper dive into these indexes and more, check out our blog on decoding indexes from Wall Street to wine cellar.
2. Auction results: real-time market indicators
Auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Langton’s provide invaluable insights into the market value of fine wines. These results serve as real-time indicators of supply, demand, and collector interest.
Tracking auction data can help you:
- Evaluate price trends – See how specific vintages or producers are performing.
- Spot emerging investment opportunities – Identify rising stars in the wine world.
- Understand market sentiment – Determine whether a category (e.g., Burgundy vs. Bordeaux) is trending up or down.
Caption: Langtons classification 8 Sun 16 Feb 2025 auction results. Source: Langtons
3. Wine searcher: tracking individual bottle prices
For tracking specific bottles, Wine Searcher is a must-have tool. It aggregates global retail prices, allowing you to:
- Monitor price movements over time – Track historical pricing trends of individual wines.
- Compare international markets – See how prices vary across regions.
- Identify opportunities – Find the most competitive selling prices.
Wine Searcher is especially useful if you're considering selling privately rather than via an auction house. It also gives you a sense of supply and demand based on the number of available wines and search trends.
Caption: 2012 Dom Perignon price, availability and search data. Source: WineSearcher
Why tracking matters
Tracking your wine investment performance isn’t just about knowing its value—it’s about timing your decisions. Whether you’re looking to sell at peak demand, expand your portfolio, or simply stay informed, leveraging Liv-ex, auction data, and Wine Searcher ensures you’re making data-driven choices.
Final pour
With tools like Liv-ex, auction tracking, and Wine Searcher, investors have more transparency than ever in the fine wine market. By regularly monitoring these sources, you can stay ahead of trends and maximise the returns on your wine portfolio.
