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Demand for en primeur expected to be 20% lower this year, survey finds
A survey of wine merchants conducted by Liv-ex has found that demand for this year’s en primeur is expected to be around 20% lower than in previous years.
In a survey of its members both domestic and international, fine wine global marketplace Liv-ex found that around 71% of merchants expected to see less demand for Bordeaux en primeur this year compared to last year. More than half (53%) anticipated that demand by volume will be at least 20% lower than last year – although it is also likely that there will be less less wine released onto the market due to the challenges of the weather last year.
Merchants are expecting ex-négociant release prices to be on average 2.7% lower than last year – but 20.7% higher than 2019, the survey found, echoing the sentiments of industry experts speaking exclusively to db last week.
The five most popular wines – irrespective of price – were Margaux, Lafite Rothschild, Figeac, Cheval Blanc and Ausone, while the top ten wines that offered the most value were listed as Langoa Barton, Brane Cantenac, Grand Puy Lacosts, Domaine de Chevalier, Batailley, Beychevelle, d’Issan, Haut Bailly, Talbot and Brancaire Ducru.
Around a quarter of respondents (25%) said the vintage “did not compare to any of the previous vintages they had tasted”, with 21% saying the closest vintage comparison of the 2021 vintage was the 2014, closely followed by the 2017 vintage (19% of respondents). However, when considering only the First Growths, the 2021 was said to outperform the 2017.
See here for db’s round-up of this year’s vintage report, with appellation-by-appellation review on Margaux, St Julien, Pessac-Leognan & Graves, St Estephe & Haut-Medoc, Pauillac, Pomerol, St Emilion and Sauternes.
Read more:
What will the pricing of this year’s en primeur campaign be like?
Bordeaux 2021: cool vintage ‘new classicism’
Why the 2021 Bordeaux is a ‘marmite’ vintage’
En primeur 2021: Attractive pricing is the proven way to stimulate demand