Editorial

Editorial 18th October 2023

Lower prices on the finest vintages

As usual, this new 'Spring-Summer 2024' catalogue includes a host of new products, but also, and more unusually, falling prices.

For entry-level wines, the fall in prices has been known and unavoidable for a good ten years, as a result of the increase in the area planted with vines over the last 40 years and a decline in wine consumption among young consumers (aged 20-40) around the world.

The unexpected fact is that a succession of simultaneous, albeit unrelated, events are now coming together to slow global demand for fine wines:

• the sharp slowdown in Chinese demand, which had previously been so keen on fine wines. For a number of reasons (poor management by Covid, the economic and property crisis, rising local wine production, less influence from Hong Kong, etc.), the Chinese market has turned, and is now estimated to be a third of what it was in 2019 for French wines, with no upward prospects in the short term.

• global geopolitical events (ongoing conflicts, US-China tensions, possible return of Trump taxes, etc.), which are hindering or even preventing (Russia) trade in general, and wine trade in particular.

• Europe, the traditional market, which is unable to compensate for the decline in major export markets due to a more or less stagnant economy (and a United Kingdom mired in the aftermath of its Brexit).

For fine wines, the fall in demand is translating into a fall in prices, all the more marked for the most expensive and speculative vintages. First and foremost, the price of the greatest Burgundies (d'Auvenay, La Romanée-Conti, etc.), whose prices were beyond all logic. This was confirmed at the Hospices de Beaune sale last November, where the average price per 228-litre barrel fell by 15%.

In Bordeaux, we have seen the price of the 1er grands crus classés gradually fall by 5% to 15% over the last 6 months, depending on the growth and its exposure to the Asian market (cf. Lafite-Rothschild), while the price of other grands crus classés has eroded by a few percent or even remained stable.

While our role is to select and comment on wines, it is also to keep you informed of market trends. We have therefore reflected the current trend in this catalogue, with some bottles showing significant price reductions:

   -18% for Lafite-Rothschild 1999,
   -17% for Carruades de Lafite 2019,
   -14% for Suduiraut 2016,
   -12% for La Conseillante 2009,
   -11% for Haut-Brion rouge 2018,
   -10% for Canon 2018,
   -  9% for Ducru-Beaucaillou 2010,
   -  8% for Haut-Bailly 2020...

Against this backdrop, no one is in a position to predict the scope, duration and scale of the fall in the price of fine wines, and we cannot rule out a pleasant surprise during the next "Primeurs 2023" campaign. We'll have the answer by early May.

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Bordeaux 2021 vintage

With all the 2021 Bordeaux now bottled and available, the presence of this vintage in our columns is strengthened by the selection of 26 additional red grands crus, including Domaine de Chevalier, Giscours, Malescot-Saint-Exupéry, Léoville-Poyferré, Pontet-Canet, Mouton-Rothschild, La Conseillante, Le Pin and Figeac.

As we wrote last autumn, 2021 resembles the last classic Bordeaux vintages, 2014 and 2008, only more precise, velvety and seductive. The 'more velvety and seductive' aspect may have been reinforced for some by the addition of a little (within the authorised limit of 15%) of the sunnier 2022. What could be better than a little 2022 to enrich and round out a vat of 2021? Conversely, what could be better than a little 2021 to lighten and liven up the richness of a vat of 2022?

The two Vinous tasters, Antonio Galloni and Neal Martin, have just delivered their verdict on the 2021 Bordeaux after bottling. Both their scores and their comments highlight the undeniable qualities of freshness, balance and alcohol content of the 2021 vintage.

They have also each given 12 wines which, while not at the top of the Bordeaux hierarchy, they consider to be "among the best values". You'll find several of them in our current selection:

• for Antonio Galloni : La Dauphine (Fronsac), Couhins (Pessac-Léognan rouge), Durfort-Vivens (Margaux), Clos Saint-Julien (Saint-Émilion)

• for Neal Martin : Dalem (Fronsac), Les Cruzelles (Lalande de Pomerol), Clos Manou (Médoc), Deyrem-Valentin (Margaux), Petit Gravet Aîné (Saint-Émilion)

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Tasting Offers

This season, the Tasting Offers in the centre of this issue offer you a white from Burgundy and three reds from Bordeaux, each at a discounted price:

• Domaine Pommier Petit-Chablis 2022 organic, the first wine from Domaine Pommier, named "Best Winemaker 2023" by the magazine Bourgogne Aujourd'hui, a very fine Chardonnay at €17.50 a bottle.

• Château Saint-Pierre 2017, Saint-Julien's most discreet cru classé, but which in this vintage offers the silky, fleshy character characteristic of the appellation, at €45.00 a bottle.

• Château Léoville-Poyferré 2015, considered by many critics (Revue du Vin de France, A. Galloni) to be one of the wines of the vintage, at €108.00 a bottle.

• Chapelle d'Ausone 2020, one hectare of Château Ausone's seven is devoted to the production of the second wine, a virtual clone of the grand vin in 2020 at one-fifth of the price, at €165.00 a bottle.

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Nouveaux domaines