Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Harpers.co.uk's 10 most popular stories of 2014

Published: 23 December, 2014

The most popular stories on Harpers.co.uk throughout 2014 cover everything from TescoGate to Bordeaux 2013 to BrewDog and Bibendum PLB.

Downward slide in fine wine prices halts, says Wine Asset Managers

Published: 02 December, 2014

The downward slide in fine wine trading has halted with flat prices for the three months since July 2014, but a change in perception has made consumers once ready to cough up £14,000 for Lafite 2008 now reluctant to part with £5,000.

Bordeaux's fine wine market ripe for recovery, says Liv-ex chief

Published: 11 November, 2014

Four years of falling prices have brought the Bordeaux market to its "lowest ebb since the early 1970s", meaning now is a good time to enter the market.

Baking hot September boosts prospects for Bordeaux 2014 harvest

Published: 17 September, 2014

September's "baking hot" weather in Bordeaux has "greatly improved" the prospects for this year's harvest, with chateau owners comparing it to 2008.

Bordeaux Index sees 'green shoots of recovery' in fine wine market

Published: 16 September, 2014

Fine wine merchant Bordeaux Index is seeing a recovery in the market thanks to growing demand for Bordeaux wines from the US and Asian markets.

Bordeaux's 2014 wine harvest to be up 50% on last year

Published: 18 August, 2014

Bordeaux's upcoming wine grape harvest should see a return to normal for the region, with forecasts placing it as coming in at 5.6 million hectolitres.

Idea of buying Bordeaux en primeur now is 'null and void', says Farr Vintners

Published: 03 June, 2014

Wine investors who bought one case of each of Bordeaux's first growth chateaux for the five years from 2009 would have lost £35,000 if they sold last Friday, said the Wall Street Journal's Will Lyons.

Bordeaux negociants discount badly-priced 2013 wines

Published: 28 April, 2014

Buyers are showing a continued lack of confidence in Bordeaux's 2013 en primeur campaign while badly priced wines are being discounted, said Bordeaux negociants Monday.

'We cannot be the chateaux' bank forever', says Bordeaux negociant

Published: 16 April, 2014

"We cannot be the bank of the chateaux forever", leading Bordeaux negociant house Ginestet has said as the 2013 en primeur campaign struggles on.

'No compelling reason to buy' Bordeaux 2013, say merchants

Published: 10 April, 2014

Merchants have so far sold very little, if any, Bordeaux 2013 wines, as collectors lack any compelling reason to buy.

Liv-ex survey finds 'significantly less demand' for Bordeaux 2013 wines

Published: 10 April, 2014

The annual Liv-ex en primeur survey found that 78% of merchants expect "significantly less demand" - down by at least a fifth - for 2013 wines compared to their 2012 counterparts.

Bordeaux 2013: the Left Bank

Published: 09 April, 2014

Panos Kakaviatos tasted his way around Bordeaux's top chateaux last week, finding out how winemakers had fared in the troubled 2013 vintage. In part two of a three-part series, he describes how the red wines are "scaled down versions of better vintages".

Bordeaux 2013: Choose whites over reds

Published: 08 April, 2014

Panos Kakaviatos tasted his way around Bordeaux's top chateaux last week, finding out how winemakers had fared in the troubled 2013 vintage. In part one of a three-part series, he describes why his money is on the white wines.

Bordeaux negociants say demand for 2013 wine is 'dead'

Published: 07 April, 2014

Wholesale wine merchants in Bordeaux were underwhelmed by a rapid burst of 2013 en primeur price releases Monday morning, describing current demand as "dead."

UK trade still finds Bordeaux 2013 wines to buy

Published: 07 April, 2014

After much criticism ahead of the 2013 en primeur tastings, it seems that many UK merchants have been undeterred by negative press and plan to buy and sell this year's wines.

Entire Bordeaux 2013 production will be drunk within 10 years, says UGCB president

Published: 07 April, 2014

The head of the body which represents Bordeaux's top chateaux has predicted that 2013 wines will have been consumed within 10 years, but merchants are less sure.

Senior wine critics call for en primeur "sham" to be overhauled

Published: 04 April, 2014

Two of wine's most-respected wine critics have called for urgent reform of Bordeaux's en primeur system, describing it, in turn, as a "con" a "sham" and a system that the trade and investors have "lost faith in".

En primeur: Château Gazin's €1 drop 'insufficient'

Published: 03 April, 2014

Bordeaux's Château Gazin released its en primeur price early Thursday, at €38 per bottle from the estate to wholesale merchants, a drop of €1 on the 2012 vintage.

Bordeaux wine sales to UK grow 14% in 2013

Published: 02 April, 2014

Bordeaux wines have grown 14.2% by volume and 18.6% by value in the last year, according to figures collated by market research firm IRI.

En primeur: rapid campaign to unfold, but no demand

Published: 02 April, 2014

Following the surprising early release price of Pontet-Canet last week at €60-a-bottle - the same as 2012 - sources in Bordeaux say that the campaign will be very short, with many wines releasing prices by next week.