Allan Sichel: ‘Price readjustment is necessary’ for upcoming en primeur campaign
Bordeaux chateaux are agreed that the upcoming en primeur campaign needs to ensure pricing has adjusting in line with the market, according to Allan Sichel, CEO of Bordeaux-based producer and négociant, Maison Sichel, and president of the CIVB.
Speaking to the drinks business last week, Sichel said there was definite pressure on the Bordelaise to bring the pricing down and recognition of the challenging market that the campaign will launch into and that chateaux were “determined to make success of the campaign”, having had a lot of information fed back to them from the trade.
“The trade need to be confident,” he said. “Everyone is very, very keen to make it a true business opportunity for the consumer to buy at a lower price of vintage 2024, for the whole trade to be able to feel comfortable in buying the wines, in offering them, proscribing them, and earning a living off them. And everyone’s aware of it, and everyone’s wants to contribute to it, to being a success.”
He argued that chateaux were very close to what’s happening to the market and aware of the impact of rising interest rates, lack of cash availability, and concern right down the chain to the end-consumer, as well as retailers and the on-trade being careful about stock level, and cash availability.
“Everyone agrees that price readjustment is necessary”, he said.
Trump tariffs
However, the added threat of Trump tariffs is making “everyone very worried” as, regardless of the en primeur pricing at the outset of the campaign, any tariffs imposed will apply to imports when the wine is shipped several years down the line, making it impossible to second-guess what is likely to happen. As a result, the US market is likely to be very difficult again, even if nothing has been announced by the start of en primeur.
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“Everyone will have that in the back of their mind and saying it could happen,” he said.
The combination of all these factors means it is likely that chateaux will release their pricing soon after tasting week, he said.
“In years where they’re hoping to push their prices up, they’ll be waiting to test the market to see what happens and gauge how they can optimize the situation. But this is not the case at all. Now, when people say we need to make business, we need to do business, and we need to make a success of it. We need the whole downstream chain to feel confident.”
With so much at stake, it will be interesting to see how the campaign will unfold.
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