Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Bordeaux 2010 "complicated" and "disappointing"

Published:  15 July, 2011

Bordeaux traders have described the 2010 en primeur campaign as "complicated" and "disappointing", despite the quality of the vintage.

 

Bordeaux traders have described the 2010 en primeur campaign as "complicated" and "disappointing", despite the quality of the vintage.


Liv-Ex director Justin Gibbs said that, given 2010's "high praise", it was "probably the most disappointing campaign from the point of view of negociants and merchants".


Gibbs said only 15 wines, all from the top chateaux, traded at higher prices than their release figure, adding that the most-traded wine was Château Rieussec, the Sauternes produced by Lafite.


Buyers are forced to take stocks of Rieussec as it is bundled into Lafite allocations. Gibbs said it was routinely being traded on Liv-Ex for £225 - at a discount of up to 60% off the release price of £510.


"It shows the power of the Lafite brand," since there is enough money to be made on Lafite's other wines for merchants to take a loss, he said.


The other top performer was Pontet-Canet, the most popular wine by value and second most by volume, after Rieussec.

Jeremy Howard, managing director of online trader Slurp, bought hundreds of cases of Rieussec, as many traders "don't ascribe any value at all" to the wine. "It's crazy. Last year it was dumped at low prices and went all the way back up."

To read more on this story, including views from Yvon Mau, the Union des Grand Crus and Bordeaux Index, see today's issue (July 15) of Harpers.

Keywords: