Lenin famously said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” I feel this is very applicable for Q1 as markets came to terms with a world of higher interest rates. Central banks continue to focus on price stability with the FED hiking base rates by 50bps and BOE by 75bps. The equity markets ended the quarter in the green despite the concerns in the underlying economy

Despite entering a consolidation phase, the fine wine market fundamentals remain strong as it has historically outperformed in both times of economic volatility and high inflation. We are starting to see increased demand from Asia as China reopens from its prolonged lockdown measures and is a situation we will continue to monitor. The reopening of USA and Europe, following the COVID-19 lockdown, was a strong price catalyst in 2021/22.