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+--- Thread: Bordeaux 2010 (/thread-21802.html)
- andrawes76 - 07-12-2011
I LOVE old Bordeaux, but its come to my conclusion that greed presented by the negociant system and the lack of general interest by the Chateau Grand Cru's in Bordeaux to become more direct with their consumer market will likely cause some kind of backfire... but with 100 million new prospective buyers, it may not...who really knows?!
The 2010 Bordeaux release prices are astronomically absurd. They are no longer a commodity as how much appreciation can we expect to see from a $1000 per bottle release price? Is the future cash value of a bottle of Cheval Blanc or Lafite Rothschild worth the investment? I doubt it any longer. I think 20%-30% increases from houses like Ducru Beaucaillou and Rauzan Segla are foolish given the vintage is lesser than the 2009 (in terms of cellar capacity) although drinkability is definitely more present in the 2010's. When a winemaker explains how he prices his wines "I don't know how to explain it, one day I wake up and just say to myself, the release price is 100 Euro," it reminds me of Donald Trump's claim that his net worth fluctuates based on how he feels that day. Simply idiotic and egotistical...
Also, Robert Parker, as adorable as some may find him starts out by saying "While I may have had some influence on the escalated pricing of the 2010's..." he is almost completely to blame for not vocalizing the concerns of the rising buyers, the younger generation that will not be able to enjoy these wines because they've been hyped. Lets look at some facts here. Bordeaux had two stellar years in the 40's (1945 and 1947), again in 1950/1959, with one major vintage in 1961, followed by a glut in the 1970's. In the 1980's Bordeaux rose again in 1982, 1983, 1986 and 1990. That's four great years which are now mature/ready to drink. The 1990's were OK, with great years in 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1998 (latter two were not bad, not GREAT). Then in 2000's you have the 2000, 2003 (right bank), 2005, 2006 (was pretty good) and 2009. Word on the street is that 2010 was overhyped but somewhat on par with 2006 which means the wines were great in terms of sooner drink thru's. So I leave this post by saying that looking at farming trends in Bordeaux, the global warming aspect, I believe that you'll see much more "vintage of a lifetime" production over the next 10 years. I wonder then how this will affect prices and demand... :-O
- winoweenie - 07-12-2011
AA this has been my main concern on ALL wines for the last few years. When I look back at pricing the hair (what's left) on the back of my neck comes to attention. When I first got interested in wines in the late 60s and actively collecting in the early 70s when some of the early icons in the cali wine biz were starting out a rise of 5 bucks a bottle was met with howls of protest. When Ridge raised its price on the monteBello cab from 15 fot the 76 to 30 for the 77 I derned near had a heart attack. When Charlie W brought out the 75 Special Selection at Caymus for the same 30 buck he was giggled at by one and all. Then Al Brauinstein really showed the big guys how the game was played by taking his cellar stock of the 74s which were released at 10 a clatter and pricing a 3 pack(one from each vineyard) at 125 bucks. The same with the boys frum Bordeaux. The 5 1st growths were priced on futures for the 82s at 39(except Latour at 45) and Pichon Lalande went for the heady price of 19 bucks. What this rant is really about is is that the weener has a heck of a hard time pulling the trigger on any wine at the moment. WW :-R :-R :!: :!:
- TheEngineer - 07-14-2011
This year's pricing were absolutely obscene, ....but.... They were generally 20% to 30% higher which in fact is about the same as the dollar has devalued over the same period last year versus the '09's so while the price from Bordeaux may have been the same, it arrives to us 20% to 30% higher already. So for those chateaus that did that, they really don't care about exchange rate and the impact that it has on the end user. What we generally saw for the better brands were increases even higher than that.....increases in the 50% range or higher and those are chateaus that tried to pass on an increase over 09 on to then have that impacted by the weaker dollar......Of all the houses that sent prices out, only Cos and I think Ducru Beaucaillou DECREASED prices from last year.....but when you are already $330 a bottle...........
I did buy 2010 because they are suppose to be good but no where near the amount I bought in 09 which were already causing me panic attacks....and the 05's now look positively cheap, why did I not by 08 First Growths at under$250 a bottle???? That was Lynch Bages almost in 2010....
What makes me most concerned are the more value oriented brands of your such as pontet cannot and Leoville barton. they use to be $40-$60 a bottle. PC was $179 a bottle and LB was $130..... I know that PC's quality is high but man......the price increases has been incredible. Can in point. In 2009 when PC came out at $120, there was a lot of grumbling but it was sold out in minutes. I can still get PC this year....many days into the campaign...... This is happening to other "value"brands too, the "other" wines of the first growths and I don't mean the second wines, Duharm MIlion, Clerc Milon, D'Armailhac, etc,...use to be all sub $50ish. this year almost all of them were $1200-$1500 a case or higher.....