According to Liv-ex, the prominent global marketplace and research body for professional buyers and sellers of fine wine, the best wines of 2014 (in terms of value for money) are those of the Rhône’s Château de Beaucastel (£708 per case on average).
In second position in this annual 'Power 100', which weighs up wines' qualities against their prices, is Henri Boillot from Burgundy, with an average case price of £265.
Obviously, wines such as Bordeaux first-growths and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti never feature on the the yearly Liv-ex list.
While vintages of Bordeaux and the Rhône have been performing poorly (in a high-end sense) since they peaked in 2011, they have stormed the value league. Wines from the two seminal French regions, along with those of Italy, account for 17 of the top 20 best-value wines.
Liv-ex director Justin Gibbs said to The Drinks Business (a well-regarded UK website), when asked if there was a new generation of collectors for these 'relatively' affordable wines, "I certainly hope so, but that’s really a question for the merchants. The best way for new collectors to come on board is to buy wines they're going to drink, and as they begin to try them they begin to move up the value scale. But the thing about taking them home, is you’re more likely to drink them. That’s the danger."
