Bordeaux 2006 is better than 2004 but it should be priced exactly at the level of 2004, chateau owners agree.
This is the view of Decanter's consultant editor Steven Spurrier, at large in the Medoc.
'No one has yet disagree with the Spurrier Theory,' he told decanter.com this morning. 'The chateaux will come out at the current price of the 04s. That will send the right signal to the market.'
At Prieure-Lichine in Margaux, Spurrier said, there was agreement that such a price level 'would be perfect for the market.'
Spurrier whose full verdict on the Medoc will be published on decanter.com next week said this is a vintage that 'you can't buy off the peg.'
'What is plain is that those with money like Cos d'Estournel, or Lafite who were able to track the vintage through the vineyard and into the cellar, have made great wine.
'Those that crossed their fingers and hoped for the best, have made nothing special. The weather was too tough for most growers I've given out masses of three stars but not many top scores.'
Continuing the tailoring analogy, he said, 'If you get a suit made in Savile Row it costs you £2000 but it lasts you the rest of your life. It's the same with 2006 you can't buy it off the peg.'
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Dear Sirs, After having tasted all the wines here in Bordeaux for the past 2 weeks; many side-by-side with Spurrier and several 2-3 times, I have to respectfully completely disagree with Spurrier's contention that 'The chateaux will come out at the current price of the 04s...' I'll therefore be the first to disgree with the 'Spurrier Theory', which is nice in principle, but has no foundation in the actual thoughts of the majority of the Chateaux I have surveyed (and they are numerous). Certainly at the top, there is no worry about virtually any price at this point in time. Jean-Guillaume Prats of Chateau Cos D'Estournel, who has made a splendid wine in 2006 is 'looking carefully at the present price of his 2004 in connection with the price of 2005 and will be somewhere in between' he says. With there being virtually no stocks of back vintages in the Chateaux or in the Negociant pipe-line, many feel that the right level of pricing is above the current prices for the 2004's and actually much closer to the present prices of the 2005's. There is broad consensus among the Chateaux that they are not forced to sell anything, have plenty of money, will release smaller quantities than 2005 and with current market demand sucking up everything from past vintages in the market, as well as pricing not slowing down for 2005 backwards, 25-35% below 2005 prices seems much more likely than anything else. That's much closer to the realities here than anything else. Gil Lempert-Schwarz, the Wine Institute of Las Vegas
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Dear Sirs, After having tasted all the wines here in Bordeaux for the past 2 weeks; many side-by-side with Spurrier and several 2-3 times, I have to respectfully completely disagree with Spurrier's contention that 'The chateaux will come out at the current price of the 04s...' I'll therefore be the first to disgree with the 'Spurrier Theory', which is nice in principle, but has no foundation in the actual thoughts of the majority of the Chateaux I have surveyed (and they are numerous). Certainly at the top, there is no worry about virtually any price at this point in time. Jean-Guillaume Prats of Chateau Cos D'Estournel, who has made a splendid wine in 2006 is 'looking carefully at the present price of his 2004 in connection with the price of 2005 and will be somewhere in between' he says. With there being virtually no stocks of back vintages in the Chateaux or in the Negociant pipe-line, many feel that the right level of pricing is above the current prices for the 2004's and actually much closer to the present prices of the 2005's. There is broad consensus among the Chateaux that they are not forced to sell anything, have plenty of money, will release smaller quantities than 2005 and with current market demand sucking up everything from past vintages in the market, as well as pricing not slowing down for 2005 backwards, 25-35% below 2005 prices seems much more likely than anything else. That's much closer to the realities here than anything else. Gil Lempert-Schwarz, the Wine Institute of Las Vegas
