Bordeaux 2013: Beychevelle drops 6%

Château Beychevelle and Château Du Tertre released prices for their 2013 wines this morning with small dips on 2012 while Montrose didn’t budge.

Saint Julien fourth growth Beychevelle released at €38.40 per bottle ex-négociant, a 6% drop on its 2012 price of €40.80 p/b and 79% above its 2008 price of €21.50 p/b.

Its price change exactly mirrors that of Smith Haut-Lafitte which released earlier this week and went from €40.80 to €38.40 p/b.

Saint-Estèphe estate Montrose copied Pontet-Canet’s example meanwhile and didn’t change its price at all on 2012, meaning it is out for €57.60 p/b, a 37% increase on its 2008 release.

It is therefore on the market, like last year, for £640 a case. The 2012 is available for £510 per 12 on Liv-ex and the 2011 and 2008 are sub-£600 a case too.

Merchants had feared that Pontet-Canet would “set a precedent” with its release price and warned it was one that not many other properties would be able to follow.

Montrose’s owners clearly think otherwise. Liv-ex outlines the problems here, concluding that Montrose clearly “has no interest” in selling its wine, which in turn confirms the view of the merchants, several of whom told db before the campaign began that pricing this year would boil down to who needs to sell their wine and who wants to maintain their brand positioning.

Also out today was Margaux fifth growth, Du Tertre, which went down 3% to €18.60 p/b. It is just 17% above its 2008 release of €15.90 p/b. It at least is cheaper than many current releases.

After an early flurry of releases including Pichon-Baron at the start of the week, things have quietened down over the past couple of days, presumably as other estates see what the reaction to Pichon’s 17% drop in price.

With merchants telling the drinks business that even that cut had failed to generate much interest, it was thought that the Bordelais may be reconsidering their pricing strategy.