Decanter World Wine Awards
En primeur imperfect but here to stay: Decanter
- Wednesday 4 May 2011
Buying wine so young is a gamble, he suggests in his editor’s letter in the June issue of Decanter magazine.
‘It should be remembered that the wines being assessed are six-month old barrel samples, 18 months off being bottled, years off being consumed…much can happen to their progress in that time. Buyers are taking something of a gamble by investing early.’
There is a ‘plethora of reasons’ why the final wine may end up ‘substantially different’ to the samples tasted by the world’s press and wine merchants in early April.
These reasons range from variations in barrel quality, to the addition of press wine and wine from different vintages.
All are perfectly legal, Decanter makes clear, but they are reasons why En Primeur favours the seller rather than the buyer.
‘We believe, as do many others in both press and trade (including many producers) that the wines are tasted too early. So why do we devote such space to our verdicts,’ Woodward asks, referring to the 20 pages of Bordeaux 2010 coverage in this month’s Decanter.
As with any tasting, Woodward concludes, en primeur gives ‘an imperfect snapshot’ of the wines at one moment in time.
But the system is well-established, and, ‘like it or not, the wines will go on sale in the coming weeks [and] we want our readers to have as much information to hand as possible when they come to make their buying decisions.’
Read the full letter and complete Bordeaux 2010 guide in the June issue of Decanter magazine, out now.
Have your say!
James Cole
May 11 10:18
@Tom, if Parker truely believed that, then he should release his scores much later. Given his influence on the market, I would suggest it is reckless and irresponsible to evaluate the wines at too early a stage, yet he and his peers are all too happy to do it. I read his criticism of the high prices with interest, given his inflated scores in 2008 (which have subsequently been reduced) meant the Bordelais watched the products soar in value in the secondary market and made them say 'we won't be fooled again'. They make the wine, they deserve the lion's share of rewards. Investment should be about shouldering the cost of long term cellaring until the wines are in their drinking window, not price spikes immediately after release which makes the Bordelais say 'we should have asked for more', and now they are.
Tom
May 07 23:12
Hasn't Robert Parker, the best palate out there, said this for many, many years? Come on Decanter, get your own voice!
Gavin
May 07 13:32
Not really from a respected source, I guess, but here is an excerpt from the relevant Wikipedia article:
"Most countries allow a vintage wine to include a portion of wine that is not from the year denoted on the label. In Chile and South Africa, the requirement is 75% same-year content for vintage-dated wine. In Australia, New Zealand, and the member states of the European Union, the requirement is 85%."
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vintage
I'm not sure how widespread the practice of blending vintages like this actually is. I tend to assume that it's the exception rather than the rule, but it's possible (probable?) that I'm being overly optimistic here.
Graham Reddel
May 06 21:57
T.M Ling raised a very interesting and little understood point. Bordeaux is still subject to EU Wine laws and Regs, which allow quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to what is actually permitted to be in the bottle.