Château Haut-Bailly and the domed roof garden of its new underground chai
Château Haut-Bailly and the domed roof garden of its new underground chai.
(Image credit: Jean Bernard Nadeau / Cephas)

The Pessac-Léognan estate was released this week with a reduction of 36% on its 2023 price.

In a surprising release (given the 8 May bank holiday in France), Pomerol estate Lafleur emerged today (Friday 9 May) but with a much smaller cut.

Also out this week were Château Montrose, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Lynch-Bages.

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Château Haut-Bailly

Released on Wednesday (7 May), Haut-Bailly’s price was announced at €57.60 per bottle ex-négociant and is being offered by UK merchants for £345 per six bottles in bond (IB).

This is a significant drop on last year’s price, down 36.1%, and represents a decline in the estate’s release pricing of 52% since the 2022 vintage. It is also the biggest discount of the campaign so far.

The drop was praised as a ‘bold and welcome gesture’ by consultancy group Wine Lister.

Wine trade marketplace Liv-ex noted, however, that the poor performance of certain older vintages slightly undermined the appeal of the new release.

It said: ‘While Haut-Bailly has come down significantly on last year’s release price, there are other highly rated, less expensive vintages – including the 96-point 2019 – available on the market.’

Lafleur

One of the high-flying estates of Bordeaux, Lafleur, dropped its 2024 wine with a much more modest cut of 2.5%.

It is being offered by merchants for £3,530 per six IB.

Several critics such as Neal Martin placed the 2024 Lafleur among their best scored wines of the vintage.

A strong performer on the secondary market, Lafleur has generally maintained its release prices at quite similar levels for a number of years.

However, the market slowdown over the last two years has seen some older vintages slip in value.

As pointed out by Liv-ex, this means there are a couple of vintages that might be of interest to buyers instead.

These include the 2021 and 2017 which have the same or better scores and are slightly cheaper at £3,000 per six IB.

Second label, Pensées de Lafleur, was also released and is being offered for £750 per six bottles IB.

The effect of the secondary market downturn is more noticeable here, with the 2024 being the ‘third most expensive recent vintage on the market,’ noted Liv-ex.

Coming soon: Our full report on Bordeaux 2024, to be published exclusively for Decanter Premium subscribers

Rupert Millar
Rupert Millar
Assistant Editor