Bordeaux En Primeur 2016 Verdict: Out with a Pop

July 11, 2017

After a cautiously optimistic start where some big names such as Cos d’Estournel and Montrose chose not to raise their prices on last year (although Montrose then released a pitiful amount of stock), true to form prices then began to rise as the campaign went on.

This matter was compounded by the weak exchange rate between the pound and the euro which meant that the higher the price increase out of Bordeaux, the more expensive the 2016 wine looked in relation to the 2015 vintage that had been released last year.

It’s worth pointing out that while prices did rise as the campaign went on (being 16% up on average versus the 2015s by the end), very few big name wines this year increased their prices by more than 20%, still fewer by more than 25%.

This is in contrast to the 2015 campaign where, as Liv-ex points out, “increases of 40-50% by the middle of June were normal”. Vieux Château Certan’s release of 28% was quite high for this campaign but last year it would have been distinctly average.

The problem was that as prices had been pumped up so much with the 2015s even smaller increases this time around was enough to push many wines into ever-higher price brackets.

The campaign was long and never seemed to truly catch fire. Rises in energy generated by the release of Montrose and Lafite quickly subsided as it became clear there was very little stock, while the increased prices meant buyers hung back to begin with rather than jumping in with both feet.

In this sense it was a bit of a “wait and see campaign,” as Corney & Barrow’s Paul Marus told db some weeks ago, customers often weighing up releases against one another rather than making snap decisions.

This campaign, with the quality of its wines, should have gone off like the Guns of Navarone or Superfly TNT. The final effect was more like that of a pop gun.

Stocks

Stock levels or the lack of them was a major feature of the campaign that was a major topic of conversation and debate. It has been estimated that the amount of wine released this year was around 20% below what was offered last year, which caused a few angry moments for all concerned.

As Liv-ex director Justin Gibbs told the drinks business: “This shortfall was of no relevance for the wines that were too expensive, however it was irritating for those looking for well-priced wines.”

And there were well-priced wines that sold strongly – Mouton Rothschild being a case in point – but what was frustrating was that allocations were sometimes so small (Montrose), that stocks were burned through before demand was fully satisfied. It’s been mentioned here before but it’s worth mentioning again; the trade is losing out on tens, hundreds of thousands even millions of pounds/euros/dollars because of missed opportunities involving poor pricing and dubious decisions on stock levels.

Merchants have generally reported they were able to get enough wine to “satisfy demand” of course – perhaps from wines freed up from the still disinterested Asian market? COFCO recently told our sister magazine dbHK it had cut its en primeur purchases by some 50% this year.

The news from other merchants in Hong Kongfrom this campaign has also been rather subdued. Memories of the 2009 and 2010 bonanzas which then turned to dust in their portfolios are still raw in the east.

“We love the wines, but we’ve learned our lesson from the 2010 vintage. We are cautious. We are not buying some wines en primeur because they don’t make financial sense,” commented Eric Desgouttes, general manager of Kerry Wines, a leading wine merchant in Hong Kong and one of the city’s biggest en primeur buyers.

Liv-ex reports that sales in Hong Kong increased between 15%-20% in value (largely due to the price increases) but volumes remained flat.

If anything, this campaign should put to bed, once and for all, the notion that there is any immediate future for en primeur in Asia. It is not the promised land where wine will sell at any price.

The US has still not rebounded fully either, like HK volumes remained flat on last year while price increases inflated value sales. It is the UK that is buying Bordeaux en primeur and has always been the most faithful market for these wines through thick and thin.

And that’s where there is something of a bright spot for en primeur. The wines are clearly excellent and merchants have really got behind labels they felt could work.

As they predicted, levels of consumer engagement were high. People wanted these wines, which was why allocations were sold through and customers were even going for wines that many judged too expensive – such as Palmer or Pavie, although as Liv-ex said, there are many wines that did not sell well at all which must now sit in the system like so many others.

“We were a little surprised by how well prices were received. Prices were high, but collectors still thought the wines were worth buying,” commented Justerini & Brooks’ Bordeaux buyer, Tom Jenkins.

After several rather fallow years since the 2010s were released Bordeaux has come good. Jenkins said it has been the “biggest campaign since the 2010s” and about 40% up in value on the 2015s.

The 2016s have not, therefore, entirely rekindled or recaptured that fever that marked the 2009 campaign but it would be wrong to say it was a disaster and just as important to point out that en primeur isn’t dead – yet.

As Berry Bros & Rudd’s Bordeaux buying director, Max Lalondrelle, states: “En primeur is fundamental to the survival of Bordeaux and therefore will always be part of its DNA. The Bordelais will always find a way to make it work. Let’s not forget that it is the highest concentration of volume fine wines in the world. With increased demand from around the world and low availability from other wines regions Bordeaux will always remain the number one source for volumes of fine wines for most collectors and merchants. It isn’t always easy to deal with Bordeaux but in many ways, this is why we like it and why we spend so much time talking about it!”

What needs to change?

There’s now a well-established argument that en primeur is out-dated and needs to be radically overhauled.

As Lalondrelle’s comment above makes clear, and it is broadly the consensus of many other major merchants, when en primeur works it really works.

“We still believe in en primeur and we believe that when you work closely with the châteaux and négociants there is a lot of very smart business to be done,” says BI’s Giles Cooper.

“There’s no doubt that plenty of client excitement still exists, especially in a good vintage. Are some clients tired of it? Do some not see the point? Certainly. But there are plenty of other offers to show them to keep them happy; in fact we would have almost hit our sales target for June without any primeur sales at all, such is the scale of trade in physical stock.”

There are a number of things that could certainly do with a change however that could give the whole operation a shot in the arm:

End tranches:

Again, in a good campaign where things are really motoring and customers are clamouring for the wines, tranches can work. There’s something about tranches though which is inherently dishonest and almost a little distasteful, charging latecomers to the party more because they missed the initial rush.

Not that it mattered much this year as the two most high-profile châteaux that tried it didn’t do a very good job. Montrose had a much talked-about release early on in the campaign and tried to bottle lightning twice as it wound down but nobody was interested by that point and the worst practitioner was Lafite which did a woeful job.

The initial price would undoubtedly have worked but so little was released (50% less than last year) that négociants held onto it to await the second tranche and then average out the price. The news that Lafite was out raised much interest which then fizzled out as the offers were withheld in Bordeaux for a month. When the second tranche came out there were buyers sure but the campaign had lost all momentum by that stage and there was more apathy than anything else.

“I would like to see the back of tranches,” says Corney & Barrow’s Will Hargrove. “It is inefficient and makes little or no sense to the end customer and they after all are (or should be) the focus.”

Lafite faffed around with tranches and it didn’t work, Mouton released everything it was going to at once (still a smaller amount that last year admittedly) and it was one of the most sought-after and successful wines of the campaign.

End pricing opacity:
A point already raised in the main text above in conjunction with stock levels, Liv-ex has spoken a lot in recent months on the need for better pricing models and an end to opacity which will stop the trade and consumers haemorrhaging money. Inthe conclusion to its own 2016 report it noted: “En primeur continues to be hindered by an opaque system of price discovery that leads to a broad spectrum of mispricing. Price information in the secondary market can be harnessed to produce logical, fair prices that could help to restore confidence in en primeur.”

A more focused campaign:

Riffing on a recent political slogan in the UK, this campaign has been characterised by some as, “for the few, not the many.” There’s no doubt that the scope of en primeur is shrinking. The bigger châteaux are holding back more stock and margins are increasingly squeezed. For merchants to invest so much time and effort into two months a year and to get what can be fairly paltry returns is clearly a nonsense. Already many are being much more ruthless in their selection of wines to maximise their returns.

Perhaps ‘en primeur’ in its traditional format should zero in on those top wines of the Left and Right Banks only and become the stated time for to get their hands on a case or two of first growths and grand cru classé ‘A’.

It’s tough on the smaller châteaux but perhaps they can still be sold as futures at a later date. They may even benefit from not having to compete with the big labels if they released later in the year. Ditto Sauternes.

Simon Larkin MW, managing director of Atlas Fine Wines, said: “Year in and year out purchases of specific wines, almost irrespective of quality and price, just don’t happen much today. I think that en primeur is becoming focused on fewer and fewer wines. Then the négociant has the problem of trying to sell wines that merchants aren’t interested in. We have had our fair share of requests for ‘assistance’ with certain tricky stocks or offers of desirable stock tagged to stock that is more difficult to sell.

“For us en primeur has always been small. We aren’t building our business on the volatile nature of Bordeaux en primeur. Sideshow? Smaller in scale? Yes, I can’t see how it becomes reinvigorated with the leading châteaux not needing to sell at this point in time nor needing to release at levels that offer value against past vintages to the end consumer.”

Read the article on The Drinks Business' website.

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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.