2011 - to subscribe or not ?!

[malan]

hi, can you give me your views if you will acquire 2011-wines in subscription or not. i am not really bullish and willing to accept that such vintage is not the best and keep hands-off, at least for now. quality is for sure not exceptional like 2009/2010 (are wine critics today not too optimistic on the 2011-vintage ? are they truly imparcial ?), prices are high, and 2004, 2006 and 2008-vintages still offer many good quality/price opportunities, might change soon. cheers/santé

[DavidG]

Pass, pass, pass, for the following reasons:

Most of the wines are not exceptional. There are always a few exceptions.
Prices are too high. Except for the non-classed growths, but those do not need to be purchased en primeur.
The wines will be available in 2 years at today's prices or less.

If there is a wine you absolutely positively must have (birth or anniversary year perhaps?), particularly if you want it in something other than the 750 ml format, it might make sense to buy it as a future.

[malan]

thanks, david, makes a lot of sense to me. besides the 2009 and 2010-vintages, i want to buy some good chateauxs like ducru, montrose and the leovilles of 2004, 2006 and 2008 - still affordable and should be very pleasant 10-15 years from now ! santé

[JonB]

I'll add my 2 cents.....while I agree with DavidG, still, most 2011 prices have not been released yet. So despite the off vintage, in 2008 there was attractive pricing on a quite a few wines......and they sold fast and prices rose. E.g. first growths, Pomerols, etc. So it may be worth following the 2011 price releases just to see if there's some bargains that you want. To determine if something is a bargain, don't get fooled into looking at the percent discount from 2010. 2010 is the highest pricing ever for classified Bordeaux, and pricing was so high that despite the reviews that it is an exceptionally strong vintage most people say the wines haven't sold well. Instead, look to comparisons with other comparable vintages of the same wine.....e.g. 2006, 2008, 2001, etc....that are still on the market.


Also, why buy 2010s if you can find 2005s - what may be a comparable vintage style - for less money? If they have been stored properly.....I wouldn't preclude them from your list.

[malan]

thanks, jonb, guess it true that once you found the wines you like, one should compare vintages and not only focus on waht is "en vogue", thats the fun part. in europe, you get for example pontet canet 2006 for eur70 and 2009 for 200. both for sure great wines, but it would be a shame to open the 2009 before 2025, the 2006 might be ready ten years earlier. my concern is that chateauxs, merchants and wine critics will at the end of the day exagerate the quality of the 2011-vintage, they all want to keep us interested, as they have a product to sell. insofar, as you said, i want to rely much more on quality that is on the market to make up my (own) mind.
besides bordeaux, anyone here that can recommend interesting and affordable italian wines ? have a great day, regards from brazil and santé