Bordeaux’s 2008 Vintage Gives Chateaux a Headache: Elin McCoy(2)
The picture wasn’t much clearer at Chateau Margaux. As owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos’s lively beagle, Zorba, dashed around the tasting room, winemaker Paul Pontallier philosophized about the market, observing that in wine and life, there are no certainties.
Back to Basics
At second-growth Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, owner Bruno Borie warned, “We have to go back to basics, go back to the consumer, instead of the speculators.”
At his gates, the flags of China and Japan flapped hopefully next to those of the U.S. and the U.K. to welcome international buyers.
Many worried that low prices for the 2008s would hurt sales of the higher-priced, but much inferior 2007s.
The crowds were significantly thinner this year, down 10 percent according to the Union des Grands Crus, and 25 percent at some chateaux. Last year’s 200-strong Russian contingent was down to one person this time, but the number of Japanese increased.
The tasting room at Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne is usually jammed with people crowding in to taste Chateau Petrus. I had the room to myself with one other journalist. At Mouton- Rothschild, in a grand room hung with a medieval tapestry, I tasted alone until two Germans arrived.
Many U.S. retailers didn’t show, reeling from the money they put out for the last two Bordeaux vintages, both priced while the economy was booming. Mark Wessels of Washington D.C.’s MacArthur Beverages Inc. said he saw no point.
Negative Cashflow
“We’ve only sold half our expensive 2006s, so I’m cashflow negative to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000,” he said.
Farr Vintners Chairman Stephen Browett, who said his London-based firm sold 35 million pounds ($51 million) of 2005 futures, postponed his usual trip because he didn’t get the assurance he wanted that prices would drop 50 percent.
“The chateaux don’t understand who buys futures,” he explained. “It’s the bankers, whose pockets have been hit hardest.” Plus, the euro is up 14 percent against the pound in the past 6 months.
“Any chateau who is not hearing what the merchants are saying is completely ignorant, blind or deaf,” said Laurent Ehrmann of Barriere Freres, a negociant that markets wine from many different chateaux.
The fine-wine market could use a glass of classic claret right now -- if the price is right. Reds were variable, some overwhelmed with tannin, but about 30 wines really impressed me, all from properties that could afford the kind of selective picking and sorting that makes good wines.
Top Picks
My favorite first growths? Latour was tops, followed by Haut-Brion and Lafite. I gave high marks to Pontet-Canet, Palmer, Leoville Las Cases, Haut-Bailly, Leoville Poyferre, and many of the wines of Pomerol, especially big, brooding Petrus and silky, seductive La Conseillante.
A few Bordeaux chateaux aren’t playing the waiting game. Chateau Angelus rolled out its 2008 offering to merchants on Monday, three weeks earlier than usual, at 50 euros a bottle, 40 percent off the 2007 price. Alas, the popular St. Emilion red isn’t one of the year’s many successes.
Will the gloomy global economic outlook force a serious attitude adjustment on the first growths? We’ll know if Bordeaux prices come under the guillotine over the next few weeks.
