Given the latest monthly market report that the Liv-ex 100 Index is up by another 2.8 per cent to an all-time high of more than 250, you might be forgiven for thinking that little has changed for wine investors since last summer. In fact, the past 12 months have seen a very different sequence of events from those of 2006-07.

Last May, the wine market was certainly flying at breakneck speed. Liv-ex’s 100 Index was up month-on-month, with prices for the top investment-grade wines surging, as the bull market broke into a stampede, fuelled by demand for the world’s finest.