Jane Anson – ‘Latour has ushered in new ways of selling wine in Bordeaux’

There was a minor spat a few months ago over the performance of Pauillac legend Château Latour on the secondary market. Trading platform Liv-ex reported that sales volume for Latour had dropped way behind its first-growth siblings (Lafite’s sales are reportedly quadruple that of Latour); while wine ratings site Wine Lister rejoined that Latour’s performance in auction house sales was robust and in fact it’s the only first growth to have seen two quarters of trading growth.

The argument arose because since the 2011 en primeur campaign Latour has dropped out of the traditional selling system for top Bordeaux wines, meaning that its last five vintages are not yet available to buyers. The debate is basically over whether this has meant the brand is now dropping out of wine drinkers’ consciousness due to its lack of visibility; or whether Latour’s actions are an acknowledgement that consumers today may prefer to buy ready-to-drink wines.

All of this is pretty much bluster right now. The long-term impact on Latour’s brand will not be known until the château starts releasing the ‘new’ vintages. But what is for sure is that it has ushered in a whole host of new ways of selling wine in Bordeaux. Everyone here has an opinion on ‘the Latour question’, and for many estates it has opened up the possibility of doing things differently.It is now widely accepted that classified châteaux are holding more stock back, no doubt influenced by Latour’s conclusion that methods of storing and drinking fine wine have changed. Rather than en primeur, Château d’Yquem is opting to release immediately upon bottling two years after harvest. Then there are some interesting mixed cases coming to the market; Château Léoville Las Cases, for instance, offered a tasting case of its 2006 vintage, including individual bottles of the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc that make up the blend.A variety of mixed offerings – vintages, bottlings, appellations – that used to be the preserve of merchants are now being offered by the châteaux direct. And that’s not to mention the direct-to-consumer initiatives such as restaurants or tapas bars at châteaux like La Dominique or Marquis d’Alesme, or in key cities, such as Haut-Brion’s Le Clarence in Paris or Latour at Ten Trinity Square’s private club in London.

But the interesting thing for me is that this is true not just for the big-name classified estates but also for the smaller properties. Château Lestrille in Entre-Deux-Mers is following Haut-Brion and Latour by opening its own shop in downtown Bordeaux, while Château La Cardonne in the Médoc has long pioneered the idea of selling older vintages.

Now Chinese-owned but still run by Scotsman Andrew McInnes, Cardonne is located in Blaignan, and boasts one of the largest underground cellars in the region, with storage for more than two million bottles. It sells some en primeur alongside older vintages, depending on customer requests. It is currently offering both its 2012 and 2010 vintages, and hosts regular tastings of older years to help decide which to release.

The amazing thing about Cardonne is that this strategy dates right back to 1990, meaning it has been quietly going about Latour’s strategy for a good decade before Latour – even if it has only recently garnered more attention for it.

Then there is Jean-Marc Landureau at Château d’Escurac, also in the Médoc, who in contrast to the classified estates is selling more and more of his output through the en primeur route. This is something I’ve heard from a number of cru bourgeois properties – Château Sérilhan in St-Estèphe, for example, has sold 100% of its production en primeur for the last 15 years. It’s a reminder that this is an extremely efficient method of selling for those who price accordingly, and that the big-name classified growths are leaving a gap in the market that some smaller properties are more than happy to step into.

What I’ve been drinking this month

From a classic Right Bank year, the Château Figeac 1998 just jumps out of the glass with its brambly black fruits, lip-staining in their pleasure. A hailstorm in July meant around 40% less yield than normal but this is concentrated, juicy and absolutely ready to go. Tasted as part of a five-decade vertical of this wine, it shows how perfectly Figeac can slowly measure out its charms and keep on getting better the longer it is in the glass.

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