Decanter World Wine Awards
Bordeaux 2011: New releases but Lafite dominating early sales, say merchants
- Tuesday 24 April 2012
Lafite: pointing the way to healthy 2011 sales?
Since the dramatic announcement of Chateau Latour's withdrawal from the en primeur system, and Chateau Lafite Rothschild's price release at €420, not much has moved.
This week there have been a few key releases, including Hubert de Bouard's Carillon d'Angelusand Chateau Bellevue, both at €35 ex-Bordeaux, a 30% and 21.35% drop respectively on their 2010 prices, and Chateau Suduiraut, from the AXA Millesimes stable, at €45 ex-Bordeaux, a drop of 7.22% from 2010.
Other releases include Chateau Haut Marbuzet, in Saint Estephe, at €21.60 a drop of 18%, andChateau Sociando Mallet at €20.40, a drop of 8.11%.
'Things are inching forward, but we have so far had a muted response to the campaign,' Simon Quinn of Bordeaux Wine Investments told Decanter.com. 'It's seems likely now that chateaux are waiting for Robert Parker's scores, due out next week.
‘But we don't have a huge amount of confidence in what is going to happen - there are some great wines this year, and we would love to present it as a drinking vintage, but if the prices are not right, we can't risk our own credibility.'
Shaun Bishop of JJ Buckley in the Oakland, California, was equally cautious. 'We expect to buy around half the quantity of 2011 than we did in the past two years. We got behind 2010, because for us that was the magical vintage. We don't see our customers seeking out many of these wines, although we are hopeful that price decreases may encourage them.'
The only wine so far to have really prompted a response, according to most merchants, has been Lafite - but that is because it was priced below other comparable vintages already on the market.
'And we have already had plenty of pre-orders for the last en primeur vintage of Latour,' said Quinn.
In London, Stephen Browett of Farr Vintners said Lafite was the only wine to sell so far this year.
‘Lafite is nearly sold out but nothing else has sold at all. Unless wines are offered at genuinely interesting prices – ie cheaper than the consumer can buy physical vintages – then I can’t see any interest at all, except for maybe the vintage’s handful of top-rated wines.’
- Do you buy Bordeaux en primeur? If so, we want to hear your views on the en primeur system
Have your say!
Michael
April 27 13:05
This is a call for consumer sovereignty! Buy smart i.e. buy wines which are already on the market, which are equally good or better than the 2011 vintage or even drinkable now and which cost less money! Just compare the prices and you will see that there is no point in buying 2011 as long as the prices do not go down more significantly. Talking about Cos 2011 - it is still too expensive and you can get equally good vintages for about the same or less money, like 1996, 2000, 2002 or 2008. It is time for consumers to use their purchasing power - this time by not buying wines that are far away from a so called must have vintage. Bordeaux should learn to listen.
MP
April 26 08:53
Cos may be released with a 45 pct pricedrop. At the face of it this appears to be a goog bargain. One of course need to realize that Cos tripled prices just a couple of years ago. Still, in my view there are many good vintages on the market better priced than Cos.
Especially for a drinking vintage (-:
enver
April 25 20:07
Th Chateaux are killing the goose that laid the golden egg, in other words what has made wine so attractive is the fact that the brokers as well as the investors could make money, now the greedy Vineyards want it all for themselves, typically French
Chell Mac
April 25 18:43
You can buy Cos d'Estournel 2006 and 2008 for £950. 2011 is £1200.