After suffering falls of 16.3 per cent last year, the fine wine market finally started to inch back up in January, as investors hunt for a bargain. 

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index posted a rise in January, after six months of consecutive losses. The index, which calls itself the fine wine industry's leading benchmark, rose 3.97 points (1.39 per cent) to 290.30.

"This is welcome news for the wine market. While a single month's data does not confirm a change in trend, the rise in prices combined with the uptick in transaction volumes suggests a definite lightening of the mood,” said UK-based Liv-ex director Justin Gibbs.

A decline in demand for top-end Bordeaux (most notably the Bordeaux First Growths) resulted in a price correction in the second half of 2011. First Growth losses weighed heavily on the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 and the index fell 20 per cent in the six months to 31 December. Since the start of the year, however, a stabilisation in the price of the First Growths has seen the market turn positive, said the firm. A spokesperson put the rise down to bargain-hunters looking for a good value investment. 

"There is a feeling that prices had fallen enough and that a number of exceptional wines had started to  seem very good value once again," he said.

Over the last five years, the index has risen 65 per cent. 

“If the market can hold this level in the run-up to the Bordeaux 2011 release in May, and assuming that the vintage is released at sensible prices, then one would expect some bullish sentiment to return,” added Gibbs.