Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

AlexR

Hound,

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex
(the village idiot / the village is Bordeaux / where is currently very hot and humid and half the population is on vacation, but not me).

AlexR

Izak,

I paid the going rate on my market (Jeez, do I tell you what the h**** wines should cost in Denmark?).
I bought the wines at the Vinothèque. The prices at l'Intendant (J.P. Moueix) were just the same.

Alex

AlexR

David, I'm not the only one on this thread supporting the fact that the 2009s are selling well. What is abundantly clear is that the US market is reticent. You write: "So far that indirect evidence does not seem to support the notion that the wines are selling that well". Well, from all I'...

AlexR

Hi Patrick, It is only "by ricochet" that I ever hear how Parker scores wines. For instance, I was unaware until your post that he has upped his appreciation of Saint Pierre. This has always been a good, dependable wine that never seemed to get the recognition it deserves. In fact the sist...

AlexR

Daniel, >>>Thanks, Alex, you paid a lot. Those were retail prices, Daniel, not trade prices. >>>Any idea what their allocations were? prices they sold out at? Let's go over this again. The chateau knows about allocations and/or tranches. The broker knows about allocations and/or tranches. The négoci...

AlexR

Daniel, The wines are selling well, whatever you believe. Check out availability at one of the leading French distributors: http://www.chateauprimeur.com/onglet-2009-pauillac.html (this is for consumers, not the trade). Did you see the comment above about Singapore? You asked: "How did you do p...

AlexR

There, I couldn't resist.

Today I bought a mixed case:

- 6 bottles St. Pierre
- 3 bottles Lynch Bages
- 2 bottles Léoville Barton
- 1 bottle Léoville Poyferré

Alex R.

AlexR

Daniel, As opposed to, let's say the stock market, things cannot be reduced to neat mathematic formulae. This is not possible in Bordeaux because the information is known only by the trade (and when things screw up, believe you me, no one makes any bones about it, and discounts follow at the source ...

AlexR

Chris, Glad you enjoyed your "petit" Bordeaux. I notice your use of the word "authentic", which I find very intriguing. The French use "authentique" all the time, and I have a devil of a time translating it because, up until now, I didn't think the English word suited. ...

AlexR

Earlier in this thread, a spokesman for Farr vintners was quoted as saying that demand in China was only for the first growths, which was taken to mean that the Asian market was a pipe dream (in keeping with the market in general...). "'The overall conclusion,' say Farr, 'is that the vintage ha...

AlexR

Daniel,

Take a deep breath, hold your horses, and stop being so aggressive.

You will not believe what you do not want to believe. Fine.

I just wish you understood the wine business better before making such sweeping statements!

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

Daniel,

The discussion is getting somewhat sterile at this point...

Please realize that the answer to the questions raised in this thread are not in New York, but Bordeaux.

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

Daniel,

You are drawing far too many conclusions from far too litte knowledge and, above all, the campaign is far too young!

We will see.

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

Hound,

Yes, of course.

Let's say you have someone who's filthy rich.
With the present economic crisis, let's say he loses 15% of his fortune.

That still leaves quite a bit, and certainly enough to fund a certain lifestyle.

All the best,
Alex

AlexR

Hound,

You wrote:
"Soaking the rich is a much better business model than competing for middle-class discretionary dollars".

A very lucid statement indeed...

Alex R.

AlexR

David, You wrote: "Alex, what does "sold out" mean? I'm not trying to be difficult but I am really wondering" It's true that I forgot to ask my friend if they were selling in "tranches" or not. Sometimes, châteaux test the waters with a small quantity, and then up the a...

AlexR

Izak, 1) Yes, lots of greed going around 2) Yes, looks like the great wines are really only for rich people at this rate 3) The wines are selling well, even at silly prices 4) What really makes me write though is the weather. We had a *crappy* month of June. I wouldn't be surprised if there were rec...

AlexR

By the way, I saw a friend who works at Ch. Haut Bailly today.

She says their 2009 sold out in a matter of hours.

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

David, The 2007 great growths were not shipped, some of them, until summer of 2009 at the earliest. Therefore, the 2006s have had a lot more time to be actually, physically sold. As to where the wine is "stuck",as you say, the answer is both in Bordeaux and all over the world. That is beca...

AlexR

Thanks for your notes, David.
88 is a much underrated vintage.

Alex

AlexR

David, As we've said, nobody can come up with precise statistics for the great growths. So, it seems doubtful that it can be proved convincingly one way or the other for the 2007s. You wrote: "Maybe some negociants bought their allocations, but most sales pretty much ended right there." Th...

AlexR

Hi Daniel, Yes, I believe that most of the great growths have sold their 2007s even if, like the sales of 2009s, there is no way of proving this. The wines are "in the pipeline" and being distributed around the world. There will obviously be some consumer resistance in light of the 2008 an...

AlexR

Daniel, I was talking from an historical perspective, not the current state of the market. I have heard people predict "one hell of a comeuppance" to the Bordelais more times than I can count. But it has only happened once in my lifetime, in 1974/75. There, the bottom *did* fall out of the...

AlexR

Hi Daniel, Happy Fourth of July. The American community had a picnic down by the Garonne and I just got back. We had Clairet de Bordeaux (under 3 euros a bottle and a very nice drink :-) and 2006 Ch. Sainte Colombe, a Côtes de Castillon from Gérard Perse that was "modern" but fit the conte...

AlexR

Daniel, The number of tranches, how big they are, where the wine is being sold, how much is being held back... all these things vary from estate to estate. This is why informed opinions hold sway rather than angels on the head of a pin that no one, but no one can count. And of course, it's a chain: ...

AlexR

Daniel, Thanks for the blog link. I'll go and visit. The reality is complex. We're talking 200 châteaux, sold through countless distributors in umpteen countries. Of course, no one can come up with the magic figures, the specific empirical responses to the questions asked on this thread. And no one ...

AlexR

Hi again Daniel, Seems to me you are confusing offers you are receiving on one market with the world market. Also, many importers have not actually bought the wines they are offering i.e. they wait for orders from their customers before committing to the négociants. As you know, there's a lot of blu...

AlexR

David,

You wrote:

"There are always some that turn out better or worse than expected, but if anything I'm surprised at how few do end up radically different than that early assessment".

I won't disagree, but it sounds like the subject of a master's thesis!

Alex

AlexR

Hi Daniel >>>1) My name is Daniel, but you may not know that Sorry, Daniel, your e-mail address just says "d" and I made a mistake. >>>2) Your post title is way out of line, and based upon no factual evidence to prove it, as you admit. That's not true :-). Please see above. >>>3) This morn...

AlexR

Chris,

My sources are:

- My friends in the trade

- This article in Sud-Ouest : http://www.sudouest.fr/2010/07/01/campa ... 8-4626.php

All the best,
Alex

AlexR

Ah, Parker and the 82s... This has come up before... Parker was no more clairvoyant than anyone else. What he DID do was this: attack the barrel tastings ASAP in a very methodical way and in an enthusiastic style at odds with British winewriting and publish the results before anyone else! He changed...

AlexR

Jacques, I did not mean to imply that you don't know your Clerc Milon from your Charmes Chambertin. Sorry if I gave that impression! I just found it hard to believe. Agreed - several people including, apparently, HRH, have the same opinion. There is thus ample indication that the wine leaves somethi...

AlexR

David, You wrote: "Do you have any numbers to support your claims? Case quantities released from the Chateaus versus cases purchased by consumers". You cannot pin down the great wines with statistics, which is the big mistake made in a book called "What Price Bordeaux" http://www...

AlexR

I, too, would like a second expert opinion on the d'Armailhac

.

La Louvière is a lovely estate with good value wines. A great growth in everything but name...

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

Hi Jim,

I had this at the same meal with the 2003 about 2-3 months ago.
Your notes are consistent with my own experience.

GPL is a feminine wine for a Pauillac, and I've nothing against delicacy, but why do I find something "diluted" lately in the wine?

Best regards,
Alex R.

AlexR

The 200 most sought-after labels, that is. Average price is that of 2005 vintage plus 20%. There were lots of naysayers, but they have been proved wrong. Believe me, it is not a pleasure to write this and I wish it had been otherwise! What it means is that the market for great growths has changed fo...

AlexR

Hi Nic,

Barrabaque is a controversial wine.
I've had it a couple of times and it seemed the epitome of the "modern" style of Bordeaux: lots of oak and extracted fruit.

Your remarks on Parker scores is oh so justified.
Give me a Beychevelle over a Barrabaque any day!!!

All the best,
Alex

AlexR

Ian, I am a HUGE fan of Muscadet :-). The name Muscadet = the grape, the region, and the wine It is never great, but rarely poor. It is eminently affordable. It doesn't need to age. I have some superb memories of sipping Muscadet with a seafood platter overlooking the ocean. That's living! Funnily e...

AlexR

Tom,

What conclusions do you draw from that?

Alex

AlexR

http://wineinsonoma.blogspot.com/

Alex R.

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