Domaine Leroy has elbowed out tough competitions from its neighbors in Burgundy including the hallowed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and first growths in Bordeaux to become the most powerful wine brand in the world, according to Liv-ex’s newly released 2020 Power 100 list.
The domaine ranked in the top 50 for all categories, bar volumes traded and has now ranked in the top five overall for the third year running, after calculating all wines that traded on Liv-ex platform in the last year (from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020).
Leroy’s chief competitor, DRC, dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2013, according to Liv-ex.
Similarly, Bordeaux first growths also under performed. The First Growths declined from 2019, with only one brand (Chateau Haut-Brion) holding on to a top 10 spot. According to Liv-ex, price performance is attributed to be “their Achilles heel”.
Overall, the fine wine trading platform says the market broadened further in the year, from 996 brands and 6,367 wines in 2019 to 1,420 brands and 8,735 wines in 2020.
There was a general shift in regional market share by value, with Bordeaux and Burgundy falling and Italy, Champagne and Rest of the World, all rising.
Italy saw the largest gain in brands in the Power 100, adding nine, to reach a total of 17, cutting its deficit to Burgundy by half. Four of Italy’s cult brands, namely Gaja, Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto, made onto the top 10 list.
Champagne also gained in ranking, with two brands among top 10 most powerful brands which are Dom Perignon and Louis Roederer.
Overall, 2020 has been a great year for fine wine. Earlier in its year-end fine wine market report, the trading platform concluded that fine wine has outperformed some of the world’s top market benchmarks.
It has emerged as a strong hedge against market volatility and offered “unmatched” stability when compared against Germany’s DAX, the tech-led S&P 500, the London Stock Exchange FTSE 100 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng.
