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News
En primeur countdown
With the start-date for en primeur rapidly approaching, the trade is limbering up for another round of gum-blackening tasting sessions and point-scoring.
The early views emanating from Bordeaux point to another good year. There were fears about over-ripeness and water stress, something the drinks business has already examined.
However, although these fears were usually dismissed as unfounded the view does tend to persist that the Left Bank’s crop will be superior to that of the Right, as it was in 2009.
The approach of en primeurs has also set off the debate surrounding points and their relation to pricing. Jancis Robinson MW has already described herself as feeling like a “pawn” in the wider game the châteaux play in this regard.
Similarly, apparently in response to the incredibly early scores released by James Suckling and his replacement at the Wine Spectator, James Molesworth, French critic Michel Bettane wrote an angry letter to the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux insinuating that he would not be participating this year if more was not done to stop critics breaking embargoes.
Tasting of the en primeurs begins on 2 April and all subsequent news, opinion, scores and pricing of 2010 will be followed by db throughout the spring and summer.
Rupert Millar, 31.03.2011
Lafite 2009 was first sold by the Negociants at €550 per bottle, which at the time equated to roughly £5,500 per case. However, the London release price of this same wine was £13,500. That is a difference of +/- £13, 000, pretty much 30 times the price laid by the chateau.
If the chateau didn’t pocket the difference, who did?
2009 provoked much talk among the trade of the laissez-faire approach to pricing from the Bordeaux Place, with demand from China often following on quickly. The British wine investment market doubled in 2010 on the basis of re-sale to China, both British and to some extent the US investors have probably had as much of a role in price formation (skywards) as the Chinese.
Yet, if we look at 2009 it is currently down 2% overall on its London release price, hardly making it a good buy. In the long-term, it is improbable that anyone would lose money on a stellar vintage. However, in the event of another high-quality high-priced vintage one does ask what to do?
http://www.dittonwinetraders.co.uk/blogSingle.asp?id=94