The leading lights of the wine-making world

The leading lights of the wine-making world could possibly be French and Italian, but when it comes to wine trading, all eyes slip on London.

London is the epicenter of what is the most developed product market for fine wine inside existence-based in the UK. The roots of computer lie deep in history, stretching spine 900 years to the time of Henry II when the British ruled Bordeaux. The import-export links that were recognized during this time grew into a booming commerce, and since then British passion for wine has never relented. If you look at the UK as a fine wine buff today, you'll find an unparalleled stock trading infrastructure, and a pool of foreign buyers and sellers that's quite simply the biggest there is.

The attraction of the UK designed for wine traders is due in zero small part to the London International Vintners' Exchange-better known as Liv-ex. It could no exaggeration to say that given that Liv-ex was founded in 1999 by ex - bankers Justin Gibbs and Wayne Miles, the exchange has totally changed the fine wine industry. Not just is Liv-ex the world's top online marketplace for fine wines, it's also the wine pricing authority.

Prior to Liv-ex, if you'd wanted to estimate the market price for a specific wine you'd have had to search through endless report catalogues and lists. Now, by using Liv-ex's exhaustive database of standardised fine wine prices available online, you could find accurate, up-to-date prices and stock trading histories at the click of a computer mouse. Though you may not be able to buy wines at Liv-ex's wholesale prices-a benefit bordeaux fine wines reserved exclusively for established merchants-the database will give you a good indication of the funds you could make on any wines you might wish to sell to a wholesaler.

From their humble beginnings, tucked away in a rented South London office above a pizzeria, Liv-ex has grown to attract a global membership of over 500 professional traders in 33 areas. Estimates suggest that these members nowadays account for 80 percent of the world's fine wine turnover.

Liv-ex also operates the Fine Wine 100 catalog, which is the industry's leading price tag benchmark. Working in much the same way because DJ30, the LVX 100 represents the price movement of 100 of the most sought-after wines on the market, and is measured monthly. The famed Liv-ex blog site provides yet another boon for great wine enthusiasts and traders, with frequent posts on everything from the effectiveness of specific brands to circumstances of harvest, industry report summaries and the movement of indices. If you need an authoritative 'insider's guide' towards the latest happenings in the global fine wine market, this blog is definitely that you follow.

Private investors may not be capable to trade directly on Liv-ex, but if you're not a trading professional you can even now benefit from an invaluable set of online equipment specifically tailored to your needs. Cellar See (

) gives collectors together with enthusiasts professional-level access to Liv-ex info, including current and historical great wine market prices, and recent Liv-ex bids and transactions. With the Basements Watch Valuation Tool, you can make virtual cellars containing your wine, then monitor and analyze his or her performance. You can divide your wines into different cellars for expenditure and drinking if you want to, and even build a fantasy cellar for the wines you'd probably love to own.

With Liv-ex in the middle of global fine wine investment evaluation, pricing and trade, it's little wonder that there's such a buzz of task around the UK fine wine marketplace.