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June 2006
Reality Check in the Mountains
Posted: 01:47 PM ET, June 30, 2006
I was sitting today at lunchtime in the mountains overlooking the town of Merano in Italy’s Alto Adige and eating some smoked ham and drinking a glass of crisp white wine. And I began to think about 2005 Bordeaux futures and the world of wine. Read more
One of the Last, But Not Less
Posted: 12:56 PM ET, June 29, 2006
Today Château Le Pin – Pomerol’s ultra-collectible, tiny-production, pure Merlot – released a few thousand bottles worth of 2005 futures on the Bordeaux market at 450 euros from its cellar, and the wine was bought up in minutes. Read more
Time Will Tell
Posted: 12:55 PM ET, June 28, 2006
There is apparently a limit for prices for 2005 futures in Bordeaux. Yquem closed its 2005 en primeur sales this afternoon at 3 p.m. in Europe following a less-than-enthusiastic response from the marketplace, according to sources in Bordeaux. Read more
A New Reality, Or Do We Drink Pepsi?
Posted: 12:41 PM ET, June 27, 2006
“Yes, it is crazy,” I said to a source in Bordeaux when I heard that the insanity continued today there with Cheval-Blanc and Yquem offered to the trade at 400 euros a bottle. That means the wines are going to be offered to the U.S. consumer at around $700 to $800 a bottle. Read more
Star Blinding Prices....
Posted: 12:17 PM ET, June 26, 2006
Call it a shooting star, or whatever. But Ausone, the tiny superstar from St.-Emilion, came out today to the Bordeaux trade for 500 euros a bottle, and, yes…believe it or not, the wine trade couldn’t get enough of it. Even American merchants were said to be scrambling to get a few cases. Read more
The Stars are the Limit
Posted: 12:06 PM ET, June 23, 2006
Today Latour and Margaux (two potential 100-pointers in my mind) put their 2005 futures on the market for 350 euros ex-chateau to the Bordeaux wine trade. They were quickly trading at 410 to 420 euros to clients around the world. So American consumers are looking at $700 a bottle with change for these wines as futures. Read more
The New French Surrealism
Posted: 01:39 PM ET, June 22, 2006
I am speechless. Lafite and Mouton released their 2005 futures to the Bordeaux wine trade in the last 24 hours for 300 euros a bottle, and the global wine trade can’t get enough. In fact, I have been told that many are reordering!
This means that Lafite and Mouton 2005 will be about $650 a bottle to American consumers – or more. Read more
Latour for Dummies
Posted: 05:31 AM ET, June 21, 2006
Had some friends over for dinner; a number were Tuscan winemakers, along with the head of Cuban cigar imports in Italy. The latter is a very keen wine drinker. In fact, he used to write about wine for a number of Italian wine publications years ago. Read more
Silence is Golden?
Posted: 11:52 AM ET, June 20, 2006
Why won’t the first growths release their prices? The whole world is waiting. We all know it’s going to be expensive. So just get it over with….
I would guess that they are going to be between 220 and 240 euros a bottle from the châteaus to the Bordeaux wine trade, and American consumers are not going to see much change from a $500 bill. Read more
Big Guns Not Heard
Posted: 11:45 AM ET, June 16, 2006
All was quiet on the Western Front. (At least at 5 pm today in mainland Europe.) No more big names were released on the market from Bordeaux. Everyone is still waiting for the rest of the first growths – Latour, Margaux, Lafite and Mouton – to come out with their prices. Read more
What Wine, What Price?
Posted: 11:55 AM ET, June 15, 2006
Most people agree that two reasons exist to buy Bordeaux futures. The first reason is to save money. Basically, the future should cost less than when the wine is finally sold in bottle. The second reason is to secure early the specific wine that you want, which can be important for limited-production or super-popular wines. Read more
Who's Playing at What with Haut-Brion 2005?
Posted: 11:45 AM ET, June 14, 2006
I wrote yesterday that wine merchants were sending in their bids to negociants in Bordeaux for the second release of Haut-Brion. But they are wasting their time, or playing games with you, me and everybody else interested in Bordeaux. I spoke to Haut-Brion and they said that “there is nothing to wait for. Read more
Holding the Bag of 2005 Bordeaux
Posted: 05:14 AM ET, June 14, 2006
One of the big problems with 2005 futures could be the following as pointed out in a comment in my blog by Karl Mark of Geneva, Illinois:
"I seem to think that the US retailers will be the ones who take a hit on the 2005 Bordeaux. With future prices as they are the retailers will not be able to mark up prices as they have done in the past. Read more
2005 Bordeaux Jitters
Posted: 11:14 AM ET, June 13, 2006
Just spoke to a couple of Bordeaux traders and they said that they were not sure how to price their 2005 Haut-Brion. Apparently the chateau only released a small quantity of the 2005 on the market yesterday, and the lion’s share is going to be sold in a new bid system, whereby merchants send their bids to negociants. Read more
A Fat and Sassy Goose
Posted: 10:42 AM ET, June 12, 2006
The American-owned first growth Haut-Brion opened the 2005 futures market today by more than doubling its price from the year before and selling its wine for 200 Euros to the Bordeaux trade. And apparently the world can’t get enough. I guess the goose lives after all . Read more
Killing the Goose
Posted: 03:10 PM ET, June 10, 2006
Do you know the story about the goose that laid the golden egg? Well, Bordeaux appears to be killing the goose through greed. The goose, of course, is the consumer, and I just don’t think that the market will bear horrendous price increases for 2005 futures. Read more
Crazy Prices in Bordeaux Hit a New High
Posted: 09:23 AM ET, June 08, 2006
It had to happen. Château Malescot-St.-Exupéry, the Margaux wine estate, released its 2005 on the market today at more than double last year’s price. It went from about $18 a bottle from the chateau for the 2004 to about $38 for the 2005. Read more
Chianti Who?
Posted: 12:48 PM ET, June 07, 2006
I was tasting some 2003 Chianti Classicos today, and I started to think how confusing the appellation really is. You can’t tell what you have in the bottle, from a cheap red with little or no character to a superstar pure Sangiovese with the class and aging potential of any great Italian red. Read more
A Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel
Posted: 12:24 PM ET, June 04, 2006
About a month ago, I did a tasting of three dozen vintages of Lynch-Bages in Los Angeles, and the owner of the estate, Jean-Michel Cazes, also brought along a number of older vintages of his cru bourgeois estate, Les Ormes-de-Pez. Read more
Bordeaux’s Tricky 2005
Posted: 04:10 AM ET, June 02, 2006
Spoke to a few heavy-hitter wine merchants about the 2005 Bordeaux, and they seemed a little concerned. They said that they had not had the unbridled demand that they had expected for Bordeaux’s newest vintage, especially compared to 2000. The English market is taking what has been offered so far, but it is working with a strong currency. Read more
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