Bottle Rocket (1996)

Wine Investment: A look at Latour compared with Lafite Rothschild

This summer we are set for a battle royal for the wine investment 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.

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 Naughties (00-07), Latour matches or beats Lafite no less than five times.

2009 is by an arm and a leg the most high profile and eagerly anticipated En Primeur campaign of all time, with consequent calamitous media attention. Interest in Latour in China and Asis 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.

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

 Vintage

Lafite

Latour

1996
12,471 100
6,861 99

2001
6,269 94
3,545 95

2002
6,334 94
3,736 96

2003
11,199 100
8,047 100

2004
6,250 95
3,559 95

2006
6,499 97
4,505 95

We are recommending investment in back vintage offering from Château Latour and would expect prices to rally once the 09 is released.

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