Bordeaux 2015: Cos releases as prices spiral

Cos d’Estournel has set the cost of its 2015 wine over 40% above that of its 2014, as opening prices out of Bordeaux begin to spiral.

The St-Estèphe property has launched its 2015 at €120 per bottle ex-négociant, a 42% rise on the price of its 2014 and leading to a London offer price of around £1,272 per dozen.

The wine has been well scored – 92-94 from Neal Martin, 94 from Jean-Marc Quarin, 16-17 by Chris Kissack, 93 by Tim Atkin MW, 17 from Jancis Robinson MW – and along with Montrose is judged to have escaped or otherwise best countered the effects of the torrential rains that struck the appellation at the end of the growing season.

Nonetheless, as Liv-ex points out, this is a “top tier” price and, much like Palmer’s release yesterday, immediately catapults the wine into a price bracket it is unlikely to sustain.

The 2014 Cos was widely and roundly praised as a return to pure and classic St Estèphe, it has a better score from Martin (94), Kissack (17-18) and Atkin (97), as well as equal scores from Quarin and Robinson and is some £400 a case cheaper (it currently trades for around £800 p/cs).

The 2012 has a good rating and is likewise several hundred pounds cheaper and the 97-point (TWA) 2005 is only £20 a case more expensive.

It is yet another ‘ambitiously’ priced release in a campaign where premiums on last year’s vintage are starting to race upwards.

The hope from Liv-ex’s members that the average release price would be 18% up on the 2014s is looking hopelessly optimistic.

Liv-ex has charted the increases so far and noted that while 10-15% was common at the start of the campaign this April and in early May, “all key releases since have been above 15% and most are much higher.”

High increases in price have not always made the wine impossible to sell of course. Canon is one which added a hefty increase to its opening price yet has sold well. Palmer, by contrast, while equally praised wasn’t even offered by some major London merchants yesterday.