Bordeaux 2012: Palmer and Talbot release as campaign finishes second week

Two weeks into the 2012 En Primeur campaign around one-third of Bordeaux’s classified wines on the left and right banks have been released.

One percent down: Palmer

Margaux’s Chateau Palmer was released yesterday afternoon at €160, just 1% down on its 2011 price and a full 88% up from 2008.

This morning Chateau Talbot came out at €26.40, unchanged from 2011, but last year they dropped 33% from their 2010 price.

Most négociants are reporting that this has seen strong demand, as it is cheaper than many Talbots on the market, ‘although the timing could have been better,’ said one, ‘as they should perhaps have waited a few weeks until buyers had worked through the big names that came out yesterday.’

Others this morning include Chateau Clauzet in Saint Estephe, at €10.40, down 1.14% from 2011, and Phélan Ségur, also Saint Estephe, at €21, so 5% down from last year.

From the merchants’ side, there is cautious optimism that Bordeaux is listening to the market in terms of timing, and not dragging things out as it did in 2011, but price drops are inconsistent, and the increased prices of Angélus and Pavie yesterday have sent out the wrong signal.

‘The pricing levels for the 2012 vintage show that chateaux owners have little empathy with the market, proving themselves again to be winemakers first and businessmen second,’ Nick Stephens of Interest in Wine told Decanter.com.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux