I am calling for a boycott of the 2010 Bordeaux vintage.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:45 pm

The Bordelais have every right to charge whatever they want for their product.
They have every right to court Asians, or Brazilians, or Martians, or anyone else that they want.
They have the right to try to get us to pay every last dollar we have.
They have the right to gouge us.
They have the right to abandon their once-loyal customers in the U.S., and Europe, and anywhere else.
They have the right to play the super luxury-item game of the super rich.

And I have rights, too.

I have the right to tell them to go screw themselves.

There are some high but actually not-completely-ridiculous prices from the 2009 vintage.

2010 seems to be a whole different ballgame. Some of these prices border on the ridiculous.

My life will go on just fine, thank you, if I do not have the 2010 Bordeaux vintage in my cellar.

Goodbye, Bordeaux, I am not buying 2010 Bordeaux. If prices moderate in the future, I'll revisit the region. But I'm boycotting Bordeaux 2010!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:49 pm

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:58 pm

I just couldn't give a shit about the 2010 vintage. It is about as interesting as taking a piss.

Why should I be interested in stuff that tastes like port and will outlive me anyway?

I might get interested if prices crash

Who is to blame anyway?

a) Ben Bernanke?
b) The Chinese?
c) Parker?
d) The greedy Bordelais?
e) All of the above?

And who is buying this stuff at these prices? maybe nobody, maybe it is just a massive ponzi scheme? A big scam?

Policymakers tell us we should be worried about deflation. What planet do they inhabit? Has anyone tried to buy an air ticket lately?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:00 pm

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:55 pm

Prices are very bad here too. Only reasonable up to now, is Sociando-Mallet (55$).

But for example, Beychevelle at 125 $... the highest ever see for that Chateau.
Gazin = 115
Valandraud = 410
Tertre Roteboeuf = 209
Armailhac = 79

my problem is that Julien is born in 2010... so i need something from that vintage, to drink in 18 years with him... so i have a good reason to buy a limited number of bottles.

But I agree on the ban, as the prices are too high.

Nic

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:00 pm

I will grant you a Benevelont Dictator Exemption, Nic, to buy no more than six bottles from 2010.
If you have a legitimate cause for more, you may petition for an additional exemption.
I am a kind and benevolent dictator.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:20 pm

If 2010 is similar to 2000, as a few wags/wonks have said, I may go into my bag of cru bourgeois and pull out some tricks when they get here. I loved many $12-$20 2000s straight off the boat with rippling tannins and stripping acids and they are still going on.

But, many of the even modest classified growths that I aspired to and most of you high rollers took for granted are way out of touch now for me. Needless to say I will severly ration the puny stocks of 1996 Lagrange and comparable wines I do have. I don't even go near the side of the cellar that keeps anything like that for my own consumption anymore.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:58 pm

Any BWEers seeking to purchase 2010 Bordeaux priced over $30 will need to obtain a Benevolent Dictator Exemption. I am fair and liberal, all requests will receive careful consideration.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:00 pm

What about splits? $15?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:16 pm

Yes. 15, 30, 60, 120, etc....

JonoB · Post by **JonoB** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:03 pm

Mr. dictator... Please my I have a wedding anniversary exemption for the following... Les Cruzelles (if under £150) and Moulin St Georges (if under £250). They both fit the sub $30 a bottle but I thought I'd ask anyway because I am fully in favour of a boycott. Everything is bonkers... I love the style of the vintage. Not Porty at all Ian,

but at the prices, I can't recommend anything to anyone when I know you could have 30-40 bottles of brilliant wines from a mix of different regions and early vintages for the price of one case of Pontet Canet!!

JonoB · Post by **JonoB** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:04 pm

P.S those are case prices...

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:23 pm

Benevolent Dictator Exemption GRANTED, Jono, under Rule 5.2 of BWE bylaws, the "wedding year exemption."

gremlins · Post by **gremlins** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:36 pm

Look like the bordelais did well with EP2009. However if they think they can charge whatever they want for EP2010 and expects us to accept it then to hell with them.

I can sense that in Singapore the EP2010 is not moving well. I keep getting offers from wine merchants giving "private offers' to past customers at below their list price. This is unheard of in previous EPs.

While there may be some good buys out there but I am not going to waste my time going through all the offers. No EP2010 for me that's the stand!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:40 pm

Well done, gremlins. Very well done.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:42 am

I did not get married in 2010, nor did I produce issue. I will therefore be pleased to join the boycott of Bordeaux 2010. Considering its price, this is a very easy decision to make.

odejesus · Post by **odejesus** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:05 am

AGREE!!
Not buying any 2010. Enough is enough.
Had plenty 2000, 03, 05 and some 08 and 09.
No need to pay tribute to them.
Will probably buy more 08 and they show up. Maybe a little more 09.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:12 am

Very nicely done, Bacchus and Orlando.
The Boycott begins HERE!

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:57 am

I've been boycotting Bordeaux since the 2008 vintage. The boycott continues...

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:27 am

Outstanding work, Jacques. Very well done.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:45 am

No exemption requested here, BD.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:18 am

Well done, well done indeed.
Let the word go forth.
The Bordeaux Summer Revolution begins here and now....

AlexR · Post by **AlexR** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:59 am

Jim,

I agree - mostly - to respect the embargo.

I wish, however, to buy 6 bottles of 2010 Ch. Fayat (Pomerol) and am waiting for a quote.

*If* the market crashes, "retreats", or "is given a correction", the ones to suffer will be the négociants, not the châteaux.
There would be a serious shake-up there, and the châteaux would be forced to bring down their prices significantly *next year*.

Jim, you call for action (inaction?) has been heard and thanks to you and Ian for pointing out that these rises are due to a variety of factors.
But I'm with you - I couldn't care less.
The result is there for all to see: name Bordeaux at this stage is for people who have so much money that they don't even look at the price tag.
And I am certainly not in that category!!!

Not gloating at all here, but I am just grateful that I have a decent backlog of good wine in my cellar. No young person today could start a respectable cellar unless they are wealthy.
Hoi polloi like me are henceforth out of the game.

Best regards,
Alex R.

SauternesSteve · Post by **SauternesSteve** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:42 am

I am going to ask for a big exemption to the boycott - Sauternes and Barsac. Since 2000 the Sauternais have generally not played this game and prices are up to 5 times lower than they would be if they had/could have joined in. True a few properties are connected to red wines through ownership and have got involved in the crossfire but I have it in my heart to forgive them.

In 2010 most Sauternes prices are the same as 2009, a handful have risen by a small amount (d'Arche, Doisy Daene and Raymond Lafon) and many have reduced prices some by as much as 20% (Broustet, Nairac). The 2010 Sauternes are also very consistent and of a very high quality - something that cannot be said of the 2010 red wines some of which may never actually be a pleasure to drink!

Please exempt the Sauternais!

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:58 am

I'm on board, Jim. Taking a pass on '10 Bordeaux is easy.

For your next edict, will you be declaring the entire 2010 vintage in Burgundy as the 2011 BWE Wine of the Year?

greatbxfreak · Post by **greatbxfreak** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:33 am

I agree with SauternesSteve. No Sauternes & Barsac boycot.

Leoville Poyferre 2010 has come out today with significant increase compared with 2009. Not even among my 20 best wines of 2010. Pass, pass and pass.

dstgolf · Post by **dstgolf** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:54 am

Happy to Boycott. No reason to but at these prices. Now if I had US prices which significantly cheaper then ......! The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:07 pm

Very, very well done, gentlemen.

SauternesSteve: Regarding Sauternes/Barsac, I'm afraid we are going to have to consider each application for exemption on a case-by-case basis. Without question, there will be innocents who will be harmed in this revolution. We will attempt to minimize that harm through the Benevolent Dictator Exemption application process.

I agree with you, that region is less at fault. In the end, we will just have to have faith in my beneficence. I am a kind and reasonable dictator.

So it has been written. So it shall be done.

Spread the word, far and wide!

Grab your pitchforks!

Let the Great Bordeaux Boycott of 2011 begin!

Vivre le Bordeaux Boycott Summer Revolution!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:21 pm

Good question David.
I'm not going to pick Burgundy again, but I am going to issue a new edict:

No Bordeaux wine from the 2010 vintage shall ever be selected as a BWE Wine of the Year.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:43 pm

I would just like to get our conspiracy theory straight here. If the price increases are due to the "greedy Bordelaise" "holding back" stocks of wine and releasing only small parts of their production, who are we talking about exactly? The chateaux themselves? In that case I don't see how the negos will get hurt by the bust. But if the negos have bought up all the stocks but are selling through just small amounts I can see how they'd get hurt by a bust.

Then there are mixed signals about sell-through, just as in 2009. "Selling like hotcakes" versus "getting quoted below-market offers" privately.

It's all so confusing.

Claudius2 · Post by **Claudius2** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:57 pm

Folks
Prices here in Singapore are good.

The quoted price of Gazin above was $US115, yet it is $S 99 here, or about $US75, and D'armhaillac is $S 66 or about $US53.

So these days I am buying lesser ranked wine. Haut Bergey cost $S38 od about $US30 which seem reasonable to me.

Sorry to contradict you guys, but have you looked at the value of your dollar lately?

In 1997, the greenback was worth $A2.10.
We got screwed on prices.
Now the $US is worth about $A0.92, and was less than 90c last month.
So your dollar is messing you around.
THe greenback is worth about half what it was getting per Euro compared to ten years ago - so you got the 2000 vintage cheap.
I paid thru the nose due to a floundering Aust dollar.

So without blame, has it occurred to any of you that about half the world's debt is in the US?
China was enormous reserves of greenbacks (and bullion) - in a few more decades it will be able to buy you out completely.
If you keep spending trillions and trillions fighting wars (which go on for decades) your economy will continue to suffer and your taxes will go on munitions.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:01 pm

Yeah, Claudius, the U.S. is going down the toilet.
We know that. The dye has been cast, there is nothing we can do about it.
We do not have the political mechanisms in place to address the problems.
Regardless of politics, economics, world empires, etc., etc., those prices you quoted about for Gazin, d'Armailhac, etc., are unacceptable.
We paid half that amout for those wines just a few years ago.
Join us, Claudius.
Join the Revolution....

Gerry M. · Post by **Gerry M.** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:29 pm

I have no intention of buying any 2009 or 2010 Bordeaux.

The prices give me the perfect excuse not to buy any more wine that will not be fit to drink within my remaining years on this earth.

I've been trying to backfill wherever possible, with the exception of 1st growths, before the the new reality of futures pricing further impacts pricing for older releases.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:42 pm

Indeed, Gerry, that is one of the beauties of the boycott: It is not going to be difficult to pass on a vintage anyway. I'm at that age now where it is becoming borderline as to whether it makes sense to continue to buy new vintages.

gremlins · Post by **gremlins** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:26 pm

Hi Claudius,

Did u receive any offers from Crystalwines through email?

I bought quite a bit for 2009 but have totally given up on 2010. Good offer or not we have to make a stand now or else we will continue to be slapped with ridiculous price increase as every other vintages being touted as the vintage of the century due to global warming.

pomilion · Post by **pomilion** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:41 pm

JimHow wrote: I'm at that age now where it is becoming borderline as to whether it makes sense to continue to buy new vintages.

From what's been written about the 2010 vintage, this is particularly an issue. I bought some 09 futures but will buy few if any 2010s. The likely aging pattern of the latter vintage makes this a much easier call. When the 09s are actually available, I'm sure I'll find lots of sub-$100 wines I didn't buy on futures that are terrific and will be drinking beautifully in 10-15 years.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:51 pm

I'm 52 now so 20 years brings me into my 70s.
We had a popular local probate court judge and a popular local constable die this past week up here at ages 70 and 64 respectively. Very sad.
I'm not sure I need to plan my cellar much beyond age 70 anyway!

greatbxfreak · Post by **greatbxfreak** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:53 pm

I really don't see any reason to increase price for 2010 compared to 2009. It's more or less to humilate people who want to have wine for decent money or directly said greed.
Pontet Canet 2010 isn't 40% better than 2009! And vintage 2010 fails in consistency to 2005. Try to compare prices for 2005 and 2010!
I'm glad that I bought all 5 FGs in vintage 2008 for 1/8-1/10 of the coming price for 2010 FGs. And I knew already then that it was the last time wines were affordable for reasonable money. 2008 prices won't come back, that's for sure.

JimHow, I'm approaching 65 and have around 750 bottles in my cellar. In 2009 I bought Malescot, La Dominique and Climens.

Could anyone tell me why I should buy overpriced Bordeaux wines made by greedy proprietors, instead of going on roundtrip to Hong Kong and Singapore. I have enough bottles to make me happy for coming years.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:14 pm

Well done. Well done indeed.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:31 pm

MacArthur's/Bassins just debuted their 2010 futures campaign. All 14 wines. I guess they'll be adding more, or maybe they're shipping [er, bailing maybe is the right term. My nauticals are not so good] risk faster than Goldman circa 2007.

And I am beginning to smell a burn. Watch out.