Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

http://www.wsj.com/articles/bordeaux-fu ... 1427707701

Alex R.

Is 2013 as bad as he says it is?

Loath as I am to make generalizations, 2013 is a pretty disappointing year in most instances.

Alex R.

I haven't bought EP since the 2005 vintage, and even that, was fairly minimal.

My feel is that there has always been far more risk to this kind of purchase, than commonly understood.

Thanks Alex. I stopped in 2010, but I've heard various reports that 2014 is indeed worthy of attention and being 'the best since 2014'. That's not that hard though.

It's not the '70s any more. Or the '80s or '90s. For most wines, there's just no economic sense in buying en primeur at the prices offered the last few years. It doesn't really matter whether it was the Chateaux, courtiers, negociants, importers or retailers that hoovered up the profits. For the consumer, the only reason to buy en primeur now is to secure large formats or allocations of rarities that never make it to the retail shelf. With few exceptions (and unpredictable ones at that), you certainly won't save any money with futures. I guess we'll see if that reverses with the 2014s. I'm not holding my breath.

A bigger question is how this will affect "La Place." Will there be a point at which there is so much wine backed up in the system that the courtiers and negociants will balk at the Chateaux' prices? Or will the wines just be moved at a loss and there will be business as usual?

I just feel with the exception of first growths and some super seconds, the en primeur prices of majority of the growths are lower than the current prices...Sure, the current prices of top growths have come down and people are staring at losses if they purchased en primeur, but I see that the prices have increased for the rest of the growths since en primeur. I do not see harm in buying en primeur these wines...Pretty much whatever I bought en primeur of 2009s and 2010s vintages, the prices have risen.

Having said that, but the interesting question is, when some chateaux release their subsequent tranches of 2009 and 2010 vintages (if they are still holding back some), how would prices fare given the surging dollar against euro?...For some US consumers who bought en primeur, they might see lower prices compared to what they paid earlier for the same...