Has the 2013 vintage’s time finally come?

As the 2013 Bordeaux vintage is released, have declining prices finally made its wines a more appealing prospect?

The 2013 en primeur campaign was an ugly, frustrating experience. The wines’ quality split critical opinion: the whites, especially Sauternes, were roundly praised but the reds were “charming” and “pleasant” in the best cases and “skeletal” and “rasping” at worst.

Prices were, once again, another contentious issue. They were often only slightly lower than the 2012 vintage before it but more expensive than the release prices had been for the 2008s – a much better vintage in terms of quality.

The campaign was generally described as a “missed opportunity” to reconnect with buyers.

Since their release en primeur however, prices for the 2013s have gone the way of most other Bordeaux prices of late and declined.

Liv-ex has considered 14 wines from the Médoc, from first to firth growths, and compared the current market prices for the 2013s with those of the 2011 and 2012 vintages.

In 10 instances the 2013 is the cheapest out of the three vintages. Only one wine, one of the few widely-liked wines of the vintage, Pichon Lalande has seen the price of its 2013 rise – up 1.3%.

The prices for Lynch Bages, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild have not moved, while for the other 10 wines the price declines range from 8% to 22%.

The wine that has fallen furthest is Pontet-Canet, down 22.5% from a release price of £675 per case to £551 now. Famously, Pontet-Canet chose to release its price well in advance of the pre-campaign trade tastings and for the same amount as its 2012 vintage.

Melanie Tesseron, co-owner of the Pauillac estate, explained to the drinks business at the time that she and her uncle Alfred were “proud and confident in the quality of our 2013”.

The problem though is that other back vintages of Ponet-Canet are on the market for cheaper prices. The 2012 which has a marginally better score from Robert Parker is already cheaper too, around £520 p/cs while the 2011, similarly scored, is £480 a dozen. Why buy the 2013 therefore?

But in other examples buyers looking for a ‘foot in the door’, an entry point to their favourite brands may find much to like in the current prices of 2013 when compared to other physical vintages.

Haut-Brion’s 2013 for example at £2,100 a case has declined 14% since release and is just over 20% cheaper than the next cheapest physical vintage which is the 2011 costing £2,650 a case.

The 2013s from fellow firsts Mouton and Lafite also have respective 12% and 17% discounts against their next cheapest wines, while it is 11% for Léoville Las Cases, 9% for Pichon Baron, 8% for Ducru Beaucaillou and 7% for Margaux, Lynch Bages and La Mission Haut-Brion.

Bordeaux certainly appears to be back in buyers’ good books of late – or at least they’re more disposed to consider it than they have been in more recent years.

But has the memory of the 2013 campaign, the arguments over price and quality had time to recede sufficiently that buyers will now consider these wines ‘worth it’?