Bordeaux 07:"a tough sell"
Jane Parkinson
Wild over-pricing and inflexible chateaux owners are responsible for the lacklustre 2007 red Bordeaux en primeur campaign in the UK, according to British Bordeaux specialists.
Merchants in the UK claim chateaux owners have continually ignored their advice to keep prices for the difficult vintage down, and they are now unwilling to take on stock at inflated prices.
Bordeaux Index's head of en primeur sales Tom Mann told Wine & Spirit the campaign was "a real disappointment".
"We started the campaign off by asking how can we make this work, but now the general feeling in the trade is we want to get it over with," Mann said.
"We've done about 10 per cent of the business we normally do. They [the Bordelais] haven't really listened to us, and some chateaux have wildly overpriced their wines.
"Either the negociants will have to drop the price or the supermarkets will take the wine on and discount it."
Farr Vintners also blamed the chateaux for slow sales. The company's Stephen Browett said: "Some producers have completely ignored us. They have an 'I've got a more expensive bottle than my neighbour' attitude, that Château X will never be cheaper than Château Y.
"If one influential chateau had started off with a reasonable price, then others may have followed."
Most British merchants concede there are other factors behind one of the least successful campaigns of the past decade, however.
Richard O'Mahony, of Lay & Wheeler's Fine Wine division, said the vintage was always going to be a tough sell. "It isn't of interest to people who are looking to invest and much of it is too expensive for people who want to buy it to drink. "
Mann claims the increasing importance of emerging en primeur markets has reduced British influence in Bordeaux
"There's a perception among chateau owners that they have a brand to sell and there's a lot of markets like Taiwan and China who will buy the wine," Mann said
Other merchants say the strength of the euro against the weakening pound is having repercussions.
"It hasn't helped." Browett said: "We are suffering a terrible exchange rate. With such a weak pound we were never going to be the main buyers. So perhaps the Bordelais should tell the British people to shut up!"
With the credit crunch and general economic gloom also impacting on buyers, the British trade is taking an increasingly fatalistic attitude to the vintage.
Farr's website says: "Château Palmer has responded by releasing at just under half the price of Margaux, but treble the price of Rauzan-Segla. It is a lovely, smooth and attractive Palmer and if anyone wants this at £1,175 they are welcome to it."