Latour is top wine of Bordeaux 2009, says survey

Chateau Latour has beaten Margaux and Lafite to be the wine of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage, according to a survey of the international wine trade.

Meanwhile, Calon-Ségur was the winner in value for money terms, and Cos d’Estournel was the most disappointing wine of the harvest, according to the poll conducted by fine wine exchange Liv-ex.

They expect release prices to be up 120% on 2008 and up 6% on 2005 in euro terms.

However, the weakening of sterling against the euro means this would equate to a 30% price increase over 2005 for UK buyers – or, if prices soar, it could be as high as 50%, according to Liv-ex.

The top ten wines of the 2009 vintage, regardless of price, were named as: Latour, Margaux, Lafite, Mouton, Ausone, Pétrus, Haut-Brion, Lafleur, Palmer and Le Pin.

Top ten in value terms (expected to release at less than £500/case) were: Calon-Ségur, Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Léoville Barton, Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, Gruaud-Larose, Pontet-Canet, Léoville Poyferré, Haut-Batailley, Armailhac and Langoa Barton.

And the most disappointing were: Cos d’Estournel, Pavie, Troplong Mondot, Léoville Barton, Pichon Lalande, Talbot, Lascombes, Clos Fourtet, Figeac and Léoville Las Cases.

Asked to rank 2000, 2005 and 2009 in terms of quality, 53% put 2009 at the top of the pile, followed by 2005 and 2000.

Many described the vintage as ‘excellent’, but a number voiced concerns about consistency, particularly on the Right Bank, where some wines were judged too alcoholic and over-extracted.

Bordeaux 2009: All the coverage

Written by Richard Woodard

Richard Woodard is a freelance wine and spirits writer based in the UK. Aside from Decanter, he writes for several wine trade and media outlets including Imbibe, The Drinks Business, Harpers and Drinks International.

Since 2015 he has been the magazine editor of Scotchwhisky.com. He has formerly worked as a wine news reporter at Imbibe and a feature writer for Halycon Magazine.