'The en primeur campaign will be a disaster unless prices come down by 50%,' Gary Boom, managing director of wholesale fine wine merchant Bordeaux Index told decanter.com.
'Bordeaux needs to understand it needs to drop prices or the UK trade will simply walk away from the 2008 campaign.'
Justerini & Brooks, the fine wine arm of drinks giant Diageo, hopes to see similar price reductions.
'With the market for young wine and the way prices are dropping, we will want to see a reduction especially if the euro stays the same way against the pound,' said J&B chairman Hew Blair.
'The only way they will listen is if they have stock sitting in their cellars. I suspect they have 2007s sitting around so the pressure might start to mount.'
The Bordelais already have defended the 'classic' 2008 harvest.
Pierre Eric Sabatier, export director for Bordeaux negociant Cordier claimed the 2008s have 'better potential' than the 2007s.
'There is much less quantity and better quality so there should not be a big reduction in prices,' he said. 'But there is a worldwide economic crisis so this indicates prices should go down.'
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com, making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field
Even if they slash by 50% the market place is going to be reluctant to buy.
04 saw the five First Growths below £1000 a case. 50% off last year will only represent a 50% increase on 04 prices in an indifferent vintage as 08 was!
Lauren Mayreta
Whilst I agree that a 50% drop in release prices from 2007 to 2008 is desirable and almost certainly necessary to resuscitate the en primeur market in the UK, I really don't think we can expect chateaux proprietors to compensate UK buyers for the depreciation of sterling against the Euro (and almost all other leading currencies).
Much more realistic is, perhaps, a 20-30% reduction in Euro release prices and very little demand for these wines in the UK.
Professor Colin Hay, University of Sheffield
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04 saw the five First Growths below £1000 a case. 50% off last year will only represent a 50% increase on 04 prices in an indifferent vintage as 08 was!
