Trade buyers return as bids clear market price

Professional buyers have stopped waiting for sellers to give up. On the CultX order book, there’s an open bid for 59 cases of Chateau Haut-Bailly 2019, 3.6% above the wine’s market price. The bid follows a trade rather than leading one. Haut-Bailly 2019 last changed hands at £305 per 6 on 20^th September, 10.9% above its market value then.

Chateau Haut-Bailly 2019 (6x75cl) on CultX, captured 8 October 2026. View the wine on CultX

The longer chart explains why buyers are coming back. Haut-Bailly 2019 peaked at around £465 a case in late 2022 and then fell for two years. Since January 2026 it has moved sideways: down 0.16 per cent over six months and 1.14 per cent year to date, against a 29.62 per cent fall over five years. Trades since July have clustered between roughly £300 and £320. The fall has stopped, and that is the point at which buyers have stepped in with size.

The quality case does not need making. Wine Advocate scores the 2019 at 96 and Vinous at 97. Its CultX Score is 93 out of 100, including a fair value score of 99, and the CultX wine advisor puts it roughly 22 per cent below fair value, with a drinking window that opens in 2029 and runs to 2065.

What’s not to like?!

Champagne is beginning to look more promising, supported by improving technical indicators and rising secondary market demand. There’s a live bid for 15 cases of Dom Perignon 2008 at £888.50, 1.4% below the £901 market price. The last three transactions, at £888, £935, £970, average £931, 3.3% above market.

Dom Perignon 2008 (6x75cl) on CultX, captured 8 October 2026. View the wine on CultX

The live order book for Dom Perignon 2008 on CultX, captured 8 October 2026.

2008 is one of the greatest vintages for fizz. Although the bubbles burst after reaching a peak in late 2022, Dom P 2008 was trading at £1,200 per 6. It fell back through the 2023 and 2024 correction and has held a range of £850-£950 since early 2025.

According to Liv-ex, the value of Champagne offered for sale has fallen from £2.3m to £1.1m since the bottom of the market, while the value of bids has risen from £0.4m to £1m. At the low there was roughly 17p of committed buying for every £1 of stock on offer. Today there is roughly 91p. In our experience and in CultX analysis we find that a rising ratio of bids to offers has consistently come before rising prices.

American wines turned later than Bordeaux. On the CultX book, Opus One and many other US wines appear to have hit their low at the end of the second quarter of this year, after Bordeaux had stopped falling. The recovery started later, but it is building momentum. Opus One 2015 traded at £1,200 per 6 on 10^th June. On 21^st September it traded at £1,552, 29.3% higher in a little over three months, and in line with the £1,550 market price.

Opus One, Napa Valley 2015 (6x75cl) on CultX, captured 8 October 2026. View the wine on CultX

The trade is following the price. Open order for 10 cases and the largest bid on any Opus One vintage on CultX. Vinous and Wine Advocate both score it 97. Its CultX Score is 94 out of 100, with a fair value score of 96 and a liquidity score of 100, and the CultX wine advisor puts it about 14 per cent below fair value, at around £250 a bottle.

‍

‍