Fine wine merchant Bordeaux Index tops $125m in sales
Fine wine and spirits merchant Bordeaux Index has posted sales of more than $125m (£92m) in 2020 as a recovery in trade in Asia helped offset the impact of the pandemic.
The London-based company, which is the largest seller of fine wine in Asia, said a resurgence in sales in the region in the second half helped drive an increase in higher physical wine and spirit sales compared to 2019.
Bordeaux Index said business was “particularly frenetic” at the top of the Bordeaux and Burgundy markets among both existing and new buyers.
This helped offset lower sales from en primeur — the process of buying wine before it has been bottled — caused by limited release volumes from Bordeaux producers.
While the company was not immune to a wider economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus crisis, wine prices proved relatively resilient over the year.
Bordeaux Index reported a 60 per cent increase in new account openings on its Live Trade online wine trading platform.
The merchant said it was bullish about wine prices for 2021, citing strong performance at the end of last year and the potential removal of US trade tariffs.
“It was exciting to see a step-up in physical wine and spirits activity last year despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic,” said Gary Boom, founder and chief executive Bordeaux Index.
“We enter 2021 with a very positive outlook on the market, where we think Bordeaux has the chance to test new highs — the significant refocusing on the region is very clear to us already in the activity we are seeing.”