Mouton releases with 33% cut

First growth Château Mouton Rothschild has released its 2012 with a 33% cut on last year’s price.

The estate has dropped its price from €360 per bottle ex-négociant to €240 p/b – it is still 100% up on the 2008 release price. It also released its second wine, Petit Mouton, with an 8% cut on 2011 down from €72 p/b to €66 p/b.

Also out this morning is Rauzan-Ségla, with a 37% price cut down to €36.5p/b, which takes it back down to its 2008 price and Ormes de Pez with a 9% drop to €25 p/b.

Initial reactions on social networking sites such as Twitter have seemed positive with various merchants saying that Mouton is “cheap” and that Rauzan-Ségla and Ormes de Pez offered “value”.

Mouton’s release is in line with the rumours that a first growth would be among this week’s releases. The campaign began with the release of Right Bank property Château Gazin.

Liv-ex recently speculated on its blog that the first growths would be releasing at around €300 p/b ex-négociant, which would equate to a London release price of around £3,400 a case.

It noted that this would be particularly dangerous for Mouton as of all the first growths, it has the cheapest back vintages (as evidenced by the interest in 2004 recently).

However, by releasing with such a cut, the average London case price should be around £2,950, which leaves it cheaper than 2004 (£3,150), 2008 (£3,605) and 2006 (£3,600).

Haut-Brion is expected to release this afternoon and Lafite possibly tomorrow.