Bordeaux 2013

May 1, 2014

I. The Vintage

2013 will go down as a very difficult vintage – a taxing one for each and every team at each and every Château. There was barely a stage when they could take their eyes off of their vineyards and there is little doubt that, had this vintage occurred a few decades ago, it would have been the definition of an annus horribilis. The resources available to the modern day château and various technological advancements, however, have ensured that this was not entirely the case. Today, the wealthiest châteaux are capable of mitigating many issues that they encounter in such a trying year and can still produce a good wine.

From the outset, it looked like Bordeaux 2013 would be a late vintage. Flowering eventually took place in wet and cool conditions, leading to problems with coulure and millerandage. This, in turn, reduced eventual yield (Merlot was the most susceptible variety). Sporadic rainfall was more or less present each month, with some respite in July and August, although various châteaux still noted above average rainfall in July. At this stage, temperatures rose markedly, with July standing out dramatically on the climatic data produced by the individual châteaux (never before were so many meteorological graphs produced by so few!) Although August was dry, temperatures had already started to fall. Intermittent rain through September coupled with warm conditions led to the onset of rot. (Indeed, the conditions for rot, botrytis cinerea, led to a promising harvest for the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac). The dry, white harvest had concluded in advance in fine conditions but concerns over rot forced forward the harvest date for the late ripening red varietals. It was a particularly frenetic time as the châteaux had to organise their teams of pickers so that harvest could be completed in double quick time before the rot spread further. Harvests were accomplished in a matter of two to three weeks and, in some instances, Merlot was harvested in a day or two.

To deliver a respectable quality of fruit, each viticultural team had to be particularly attentive throughout the year. Their strategies had to constantly adjust to the conditions they encountered. Their work involved reducing the vine’s canopy size to allow better aeration, cutting away parts of bunches that would not ripen evenly, harvesting rapidly and sorting the crop thoroughly on reception at the cellars. Those fortunate enough to own expensive optical sorting machines, which grade the berry by colour and size, put them to good use in ensuring the calibre of the fruit selected. It is not surprising to learn that the greatest successes lie with those châteaux with the strongest resources. We were fortunate enough to be focussing on the wines of leading properties during this trip; results from Cru Bourgeois or Petits-Châteaux will undoubtedly be more mixed, to put it mildly.

From a winemaking perspective, the challenges only continued. Cool years result in high acidity and lower alcohol levels. Some winemakers conceded that they had to chaptalize the vintage to boost the slightly feeble alcohol levels and achieve a better overall balance. Most grapes did reach a good degree of phenolic ripeness and so the tannins are not harsh and coarse in nature but are soft and only gently assert themselves. As the skins (where the tannins and colouring material of the berry are found) were not in perfect condition, winemakers therefore had to opt for softer extraction methods than would be the case in a superior vintage. This all means that 2013 will be a forward, early-drinking vintage.

In short, the vintage varies from château to château given the impact of the different decisions each team had taken. Overall, it is a softer, more delicate vintage of light to mid-weight wines with fresh acidities. In most instances, winemakers will curtail time in oak, in order to preserve freshness and retain those succulent fruit notes that will make the wines easy and enjoyable to taste from shipment. There are a handful of wines that stand out from the pack and offer a little more body and structure, but this is not a vintage that demands patience. Some, however, do lack mid-palate intensity and can come across a touch hollow and others are a bit too light and ethereal, carried only by youthful acidity...

II. To buy or not to buy

As fascinating as all the trials and tribulations of a difficult year may be, the question remains; are the 2013s worth buying en primeur? To my mind, purchasing en primeur is driven by one or other, or even a combination of the following factors:

Is this likely be the lowest pricing level at which this wine will be available in the market?

Will this wine be available in the market after it has been bottled and subsequently shipped?

Is this a property which the client has followed from one vintage to the next?

Is the price for this wine likely to rise on account of demand or critical acclaim?

I would not bet against some of the prices softening once the wine is physically available in the UK as no-one can dub it a must-have vintage. I am sure that 2013s will be available in the market at a later date and I do not foresee sourcing specific wines to be a problem in the years to come. On the other hand, clients who follow a particular property often prefer to secure their wine en primeur out of habit. And finally, there is no scope for price growth from a speculative perspective; the quality is simply not there to create the necessary demand.

What of the prices then, anyway? At this stage we have very little to go on. The only notable release to date is that of Château Pontet-Canet. Proprietor Alfred Tesseron explained during our visit that he was frustrated by the negative commentary on the vintage – some of which had emanated from Bordeaux itself and some of which had been penned by journalists who were not even making the trip to Bordeaux to taste the wines. He was particularly critical of Dr Alain Raynaud, President of the Grand Cercle de Bordeaux, who recently suggested a blanket reduction in price of 30% if the vintage was to be deemed attractive en primeur. Monsieur Tesseron took exception to this and suggested that each château had to make their own decision over what constituted a fair price relative to the quality they individually achieved. It is hard not to sympathise with his view point.

This year, Pontet-Canet caught everyone on the hop by releasing early and at an identical price to the 2012. Liv-ex show that the 2012 was released in London at £690 per 12 in bond and today shows an average list price of £676 and a benchmark market price of £602 per 12. The market is not short of supply. The loyal following for this highly-rated estate will be tested with the 2013 vintage. It is however one of the finer wines of the vintage; a streamlined, elegant, lighter Pontet-Canet with a suppleness and vibrant red berry fruit. Qualitatively, it is probably on a par with the 2012 – or a whisker behind – but that still does not satisfy the questions above. One should then also consider the virtues of the 2006 and 2008 vintages of this property; Liv-ex market prices of £640 and £610 respectively both come in under the most recent release. I am only using Pontet-Canet as an example in the absence of others but it does illustrate the Bordeaux proprietors’ predicament: just what price might make this campaign work?

In our 4th Quarter Market Report 2013, I commented that even the right price might be the wrong price in the eyes of the market; such is the current lack of appeal. Those few châteaux who refreshingly issued honest appraisals of their wine this year, acknowledged the need to pull pricing back in order to send a signal to the broader market. Everyone wants to see the vintage move through, rather than adding to the raft of unsold recent vintages that are queuing up in Bordeaux. Just how this will happen is hard to foresee. The only determining factor will be the release pricing. Pontet-Canet is a brand that is flying high and is liked by innumerable wine critics and commentators. Many other illustrious properties do not find themselves in such a comfortable position and, should they push their release price too far, I cannot see the market sympathising with the low yields and hard work they endured in 2013.

III. The critics

The last thing the market needs is a protracted, drawn out campaign. Fortunately this year’s en primeur campaign is likely to be a short, sharp affair as there is no reason for the châteaux to hold back their prices. American wine critic, Robert Parker, has said that he will not release his notes and scores until the end of June. Jancis Robinson has confirmed she will not taste this year and instead her sidekick, Richard Hemming, is being sent to taste. James Suckling has visited and we hear that, for the first time, former Wine Advocate critic, Antonio Galloni, has been touring the region. It is likely that he has recognised the opening afforded him by Parker’s later travel plans and sees it drawing more attention to his website vinousmedia.com, but I doubt he will herald his first reviews with scores in the upper echelons of his scheme!

I still think it is worth tasting each and every year, irrespective of the early pronouncements and the quality of the vintage. I like to make my own mind up and it is only by visiting and tasting first hand that we are able to provide guidance and advice. I certainly learn more each year I visit as I am better able to piece together an understanding of the vineyard map and the approaches taken by each individual Châteaux. Additionally, there are some appealing wines this year (as there are in each and every vintage), but only the next couple of months will show whether this is a merely a fascinating divergence or whether it is something of modest interest to the wine merchant and client alike. I have my suspicions as to which way it will fall, but we will have to wait and see where the prices come in. As I finalise my edits, Château Gazin has released this morning at a price which is down just €1 on last year. Perhaps an ominous sign.

Following this report, we will be issuing tasting notes on a handful of wines that showed well and may gain our endorsement if reasonable pricing prevails. If you are in need of early drinking Bordeaux, and we feel that the release prices are in line with a realistic expectation for these properties in such conditions, we will of course draw these to your attention as and when the wines are released.

For further commentary on Bordeaux 2013, please visit our News section.

Simon Larkin, MW

Managing Directo

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2023 Bordeaux En Primeur - Vintage Report

The Bordeaux en Primeur campaign is underway, and has started in quick form this year. I was still slurping my way through a range of samples at a negociant’s offices in Bordeaux when the first releases were made. Making it a snappier, quicker campaign will be welcomed by the entire trade. Another welcome sign has been the reductions in price over last year. In recent years, Bordeaux pricing has escalated to such a level that it is invariably more expensive to buy en Primeur than it is to pick up a back vintage from a merchant’s list. You might recall my first write up on Bordeaux this year, where I commented that the aim of en Primeur is to provide beneficial cash flow for the châteaux, a margin for both the negociants and their wine merchant clients, and an appealing price to the end consumer. This doesn’t always transpire, and often wines are priced right on the cusp of fair value, or just over. Invariably, when prices are dropped, the accompanying volume is often restrained by the Châteaux, who hold it back to release at a higher price once it is bottled. This allows the masses of journalists to write about headline price reductions but doesn’t ‘cost’ that much. Fortunately, this year, the volumes released seem to be reasonably good, so the economic backdrop is shaping decisions. We have seen estates like Léoville-Las Cases reduce their price by 47% over the 2022, for example. But as one contact of mine put it, you need to have increased your price fairly dramatically over a period of years to countenance such a move. That said, reductions of 20-40% have been welcomed and at least have generated some interest from consumers, who perhaps were feeling like they were on a treadmill of ever-increasing prices. Obviously, Châteaux that are already more moderately priced, or those that hadn’t pushed hard to elevate their prices, will not have the same scope to cut by 40%, but some of the bigger players have. It has been commented in the wine press that Bordeaux is at some form of crossroads; the appeal of en Primeur doesn’t entirely resonate with a younger audience and there is a lot of wine ‘stuck’ in the system, whether it be burgeoning stock levels with merchants or with negociants. The wine market in general needs to draw in younger consumers, and the traditional approach of en Primeur – buying early and storing for a decade or more even when the price is not necessarily advantageous – doesn’t have a lot to offer as an attraction. Acknowledging this backdrop, Bordeaux could have done more this vintage to make it a complete success, but perhaps lessons are learned in phases rather than in one rather sobering hit. As ever, much has been written about the new vintage. Reading through and comparing the write-ups of different critics has been particularly interesting this year as they are more divergent on the merits of individual wines than we have noted in a while. One may be championing the qualities of a specific wine, while another’s words suggest they were relatively non-plussed, or are, at least, nowhere near as effusive. I think this speaks to the nature of the 2023 vintage; to my mind there is a raft of good to very good wines, wines with which it is difficult to find obvious fault, but where it is equally tricky to focus on outstanding qualities. That is not to do this vintage down, as I found many appealing wines, but I do not believe that it is an homogenous success nor do I believe it has delivered many epic or potentially legendary wines outside of 10-12 significant successes. I don’t score wines, but I would expect a good number to fall in the 93-96 category on anyone’s 100 points scale. So, should you buy? We have dealt with the issue of fair value already, but in terms of the qualities of the vintage, the conditions in 2023 have delivered fresh, well-balanced wines with lower alcohol levels than we have witnessed in many recent ‘solar’ Bordeaux vintages. They have a supple appeal; my notes are littered with words like ‘fluidity’, ‘lithe’, ‘mineral drive’, ‘streamlined’, ‘agile’, ‘graceful’ and ‘supple’. This isn’t a vintage that has delivered bold, concentrated wines with a tight block of fruit that will need 15 years to unfurl. It lends itself to being broached earlier than most recent vintages, yet the best of the wines, and the majority, aren’t diffuse either. Despite the well-documented heat in 2023, it was not a solar vintage – that is a handy way to categorise it; it was not a year of continuous blazing sunshine. In recent years we have grown accustomed to hot, dry Bordeaux vintages where the vines suffer to a lesser or greater extent from hydric stress – think 2022, 2020, 2018 for example. We have had very few vintages in the last decade where the growing season has been punctuated by periods of regular rain. Invariably the model has been that winter should replenish the groundwater levels sufficiently to equip the vine with the ability to survive a hot, dry summer. 2023 was different. Equally, when needed, 2023 provided periods when the temperature spiked, which served to build greater ripeness and concentration. These could not be considered heatwaves, as they were not that prolonged, but they served to accelerate the berries towards full phenolic ripeness, giving the resultant wines a touch more density than you might expect in a ‘fluid’ vintage. I talked to a lot of winemakers about crop and berry size; yields were higher than the norm on account both of more berries, due to a very homogenous, efficient flowering, and of greater berry size, meaning more juice in each berry, on account of the more readily available moisture. A couple of commentators have talked about acidity, and yet I do not find the acidities in 2023 to be notably elevated above the levels encountered last year, though they are not offset by the same density of fruit. In many instances, the pHs in 2023 are almost identical to those of 2022. The key point of difference, and the one that has shaped the vintage and reduced the alcohol levels, is dilution. This word need not be pejorative; in many wine regions that I visit the question of yield is being debated. In a bygone age when sunny, hot vintages did not dominate, leaf plucking (exposing the fruit to the sun) and green harvest (reducing the crop so the vine focuses on ripening a lower volume) were de rigueur. Now, with markedly different conditions, there is a broader recognition that higher yields and a higher juice to skin ratio ease the density of the wine, can lead to lower alcohol and allow the winemaker to achieve balance in the wine more easily. The skins today are so rich in phenolics and fruit compounds that the presence of more juice allows you to extend the period of maceration (some winemakers cited this in the 2023 approach). This does not mean that diffuse wines result. If you had a much lower level of ripeness, with thinner skins, then dilution would be an issue in a negative sense and weedy wines would result. In 2023, there is more wine, yields are more generous and that attribute that I looked to describe with a whole host of synonyms in my tasting notes is key to the vintage. Many merchants and critics have commented on the ‘transparency’ of the vintage. That is a fair comment, but it once more relates to the point on dilution. When you have a densely ripe wine like a number of the 2022s, the signatures of an individual vineyard’s terroir are very often masked in its youth. Terroir then starts to assert as the puppy fat falls away with maturity. Think 1989 or 2009 – both these years showed less evident sense of terroir in their youth and, in fact, many 2009s still have some way to go in their evolution before these signatures start to appear more clearly. In contrast, a vintage like 2014 had this clarity at an early stage. Such vintages were easier to taste young; the fruit was less copious and the vineyard character traits were more easy to read from one wine to the next. I think 2023 is far more successful than 2014, as the latter has a perkier acidity that may take some time to tame, and certainly that vintage did not benefit from the same boost to density that was brought about by the heat spikes in the run up to the 2023 harvest. Comparing such a vintage to previous years is really a mug’s game. I am not trying to argue that 2023 is like this vintage or that, but do believe it is worth highlighting that it has traits of cooler years, even though it was by no means a cool year, and traits of bolder vintages without being bold. All of this, coupled with that supple accent, render it a very appealing vintage and one which should chime with the canny buyer, who simply buys for future consumption as opposed to investment. Of course, speculators will be drawn to several outstanding wines that register as notable high points in this vintage and whose qualities can readily be compared to outstanding young vintages of the past, but I see 2023 as a vintage for the drinker, and I do not believe that the usual patience will be required to quite the same extent before the charms of the 2023 vintage can be enjoyed from bottle. As ever, the trade is keen to make this vintage work. It is completely understandable given that the fine wine market has lacked direction for this last 12 months. It has been a quiet period for the market on the back of high interest rates and the general global economic backdrop. This has given rise to the usual hyperbole and we have seen some bizarre comments and scores. My advice to anyone interested in buying Bordeaux 2023 is simple: cut through the nonsense, consider whether the style of the vintage that I have described is one that appeals, and do not hesitate to ask us any questions about specific wines that catch your eye. I do think there are a number of bargains to be had this year if you are looking for Bordeaux that you could drink earlier and that represent more of a classically-balanced style, even if the conditions that brought that style about are markedly different. The trade will no doubt debate the reductions witnessed on various wines, and whether the reductions are enough to bring about easy sales and to add some form of a draw to the slightly flagging en Primeur market. We will see how these things play out. In the meantime, at Atlas, we will continue to highlight wines that impressed us and where we believe the price is favourable. The decision is yours, but we remain on hand to advise as and when you need it. I opened by saying that the 2023 Bordeaux en Primeur campaign started quickly. It is now taking a pause for French May Bank Holidays and will resume in earnest next week with the goal of releasing most wines before Bordeaux decamps to Hong Kong for Vinexpo Asia from 28th to 30th May.

2023 Bordeaux En Primeur Release Pricing

As ever, we will do our best to highlight wines where we feel confident in the quality and the value offered. This isn’t an exact science, but we won’t be shy in sharing the Atlas view. This year we will also flag the availability of a wider number of wines (below), as we acknowledge that some clients follow specific Châteaux and enjoy following each vintage. Equally, we fully understand if you have read something interesting by a critic that we haven’t opted to highlight ourselves. Please contact Simon Larkin MW (Atlas' Managing Director) by clicking on 'Express Interest' below, or choosing 'Express Interest' or 'Buy Now' next to the wines in the table below. Wine Name Price (In Bond) Unit Size Enquire Château Ausone, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023 £2,640 6X75 Buy Now Château Beauséjour Bécot, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Berliquet, Grand Cru Classé, St. Emilion 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Beychevelle, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023 £360 6X75 Buy Now Château Branaire-Ducru, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023 £201 6X75 Buy Now Château Brane-Cantenac, 2ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023 £267 6X75 Buy Now Château Canon, Premier Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Cantemerle, 5ème Cru Classé, Médoc 2023 £120 6X75 Buy Now Château Cantenac-Brown, 3ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023 £195 6X75 Buy Now Carruades de Lafite, Pauillac 2023 £930 6X75 Buy Now Château Cheval Blanc, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023 £2,340 6X75 Buy Now Château Clerc Milon, Pauillac 2023 £330 6X75 Buy Now Clos Fourtet, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023 £420 6X75 Buy Now Château Cos d'Estournel, Saint-Estèphe 2023 £720 6X75 Buy Now Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien 2023 £744 6X75 Buy Now Château Duhart-Milon-Rothschild, 4ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £342 6X75 Buy Now Château Figeac, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Gazin, Pomerol 2023 £291 6X75 Buy Now Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £273 6X75 Buy Now Château Gruaud-Larose, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Haut-Bailly, Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023 £540 6X75 Buy Now Château Haut-Batailley, Pauillac 2023 £216 6X75 Buy Now Château Haut-Brion, 1er Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023 £1,890 6X75 Buy Now Château Kirwan, 3ème Cru Classé Margaux 2023 £174 6X75 Buy Now Château La Clotte, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023 6X75 Express Interest La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe 2023 £144 6X75 Buy Now Chateau La Gaffeliere, 1er Grand Cru Classé, Saint-Emilion 2023 £270 6X75 Buy Now Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023 £1,110 6X75 Buy Now Château Lafite-Rothschild, 1er Cru Classe, Pauillac 2023 £2,460 6X75 Buy Now Château Lafleur, Pomerol 2023 3X75 Express Interest Château Langoa-Barton, 3ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023 £177 6X75 Buy Now Château Laroque, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023 £120 6X75 Buy Now Château Léoville Barton, St. Julien 2023 £336 6x75 Buy Now Château Léoville-Las-Cases, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023 £830 6X75 Buy Now Château Léoville-Poyferré, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023 £337 6X75 Buy Now Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Leognan 2023 6X75 Express Interest Les Perrières de Lafleur, Pomerol 2023 £325 6X75 Buy Now Château Lynch-Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £420 6X75 Buy Now Château Mangot, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023 £114 6X75 Buy Now Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé, Margaux 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Meyney, Saint-Estephe 2023 £114 6X75 Buy Now Château Montrose, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Estephe 2023 £714 6X75 Buy Now Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £2,034 6X75 Buy Now Château Palmer, Margaux 2023 £1,440 6X75 Buy Now Château Phélan Ségur, Cru Classé, St Estephe 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Pichon Baron, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £616 6X75 Buy Now Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac £660 6X75 Buy Now Château Pontet-Canet, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023 £395 6X75 Buy Now Château Prieuré-Lichine, 4ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023 £144 6X75 Buy Now Château Saint-Pierre, Saint-Julien 2023 £195 6X75 Buy Now Château Soutard, Grand Cru Classe, Saint-Emilion 2023 £144 6X75 Buy Now Château Tronquoy, St Estèphe 2023 6X75 Express Interest Château Troplong-Mondot, Premier Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023 £534 6X75 Buy Now Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol 2023 6X75 Express Interest

Bordeaux En Primeur 2023: Pre-Report

The Bordeaux En Primeur season is upon us and two of our team have just returned from the UGC tastings and a series of independent chateau visits. On Monday, three more of us head out to taste – this time focusing largely on the Right Bank. Our Vintage Report will follow shortly, but it suffices to say that 2023 has the makings of very good vintage. Recent Bordeaux vintages may be showing a progression towards hot and dry conditions, but 2023 was a vintage where the growing season received regular intervals of rain, and not in dramatic amounts. This has boosted berry size and thereby eased concentration back from the 2022 level, where rich wines were more the norm, with relatively significant alcohol levels. Conversely, the best of 2023 show fine balance, good freshness, and more moderate levels of alcohol. Winemakers were able to carry out lengthier macerations as the juice to skin ratio was higher on account of a larger berry size – when the vines are subject to increased hydric stress clearly resultant berry size is smaller. With lower alcohol and more juice, winemakers did not have quite the same concerns about over-extracting as they had last year. Despite vastly different vintage conditions to back in the day, it is more of a throwback vintage, more classically styled than the heat summation data might lead you to believe. It begs the question that, if conditions are moving towards the hot and dry end of the spectrum in general, how many such years where the season is punctuated by adequate rainfall are we likely to witness in a decade? One could be forgiven for thinking that such years are likely to prove to be the anomaly as opposed to the norm. Our impression of the 2023s, largely based on our sampling of the Left Bank, leads us to believe there are a range of impressive, appealing Cabernet dominant wines that show good volume of fruit and fine natures, with good balancing acidities. The big question concerns price – 2023 could be a successful vintage for the region, if release prices are well-judged. All in all, 2023 maybe a welcome surprise, even if it does not register as one of thee more dramatic vintages of recent times. As ever, we will make our recommendations to you, based on quality and value, in our stream of regular offers. Atlas has always remained selective in its approach to Bordeaux en primeur, rather than opting to offer every single release far and wide as most of the trade does. We do however have availability of more wines than those we choose to endorse; for which you will be able to register your interest. A word on pricing The aim of Bordeaux’s En Primeur system is to allow the sale of the wine, on paper, two years before it is bottled. When the system works well it provides beneficial cash flow for the chateaux, a margin for the negociants and their wine merchant clients, and allegedly an appealing price for the end consumer. Release pricing used to be influenced by the negociants and the courtiers (the agents between the negociants and the chateaux), but all that changed in the early 1980s when demand for the wines started to build and the chateaux assumed far greater control, now absolute control, over price setting. Negociants find themselves in a position where they are obliged to buy, even if they don’t agree with the price, as if they opt out one year, they will lose their allocations in the subsequent year. What does this interesting background have to do with the 2023 Bordeaux en primeur offer? Well, I think it is in the balance this year. 2023 is a good vintage overall, rather than exceptional, though, as always, the generalised view masks the notable successes that push above the average quality. We are told the Bordelais Chateaux owners are aware of the economic backdrop, the fact that en primeur has perhaps lost some of the limelight in recent years, and the fact that the fine wine market is feeling a little flat right now. We are told we can expect significant reductions on last year’s levels. But what kind of reduction might be required to fully resuscitate the patient? There has been plenty of discussion in the market about reductions in the realm of 30-40% on average. If that were to transpire, I think it would be a good sign that the decision-makers in Bordeaux do not exist in some parallel universe, and it should lead to clients who perhaps have hung back on the sidelines during en primeur season to enter the fray once more. The last time I can recall such a significant reduction in release pricing was the 2008 vintage, which served to re-engage the market and led to a far better campaign than many envisaged at the outset. The sad reality of Bordeaux en primeur is it becomes a discussion of price above almost everything else. The system of selling has led to this as it was supposed to deliver benefit down the chain from chateaux to consumer, but it hasn’t always transpired that way. The hiatus of 2009 and 2010 left many people who purchased high and dry, many still holding stocks that are underwater today. If the Bordelais get the pricing ‘right’, then perhaps the conversation will return to the relative merits of the wines themselves. Either way, we won’t have to wait long as one lesson that appears to have been learned is not to protract the period of releases. We already know that the release schedule will commence in earnest as early as Tuesday or Wednesday next week and expect a quickfire campaign condensed into three to four weeks rather than the usual drawn out affair with the last releases emerging as everyone starts to disappear on summer holidays. Our Vintage Report will be sent to you next week which will provide further information on forthcoming Bordeaux releases.