2008 En Primeur: Surprise, Surprise
April 4th 2009, by GQ
We’ve just had the week of trade tastings in Bordeaux, when the world of fine wine annually descends on the region to taste the wines from the previous vintage. A few surprises too: many 2008s are far better than most outsiders would have thought, after gloomy reports of a damp summer.
The real surprise though is that there seems to be a genuine desire to launch a quick ‘en primeur’ campaign, with the possibility of the First Growths – Latour, Lafite, Margaux (above), Mouton Rothschild and Haut-Brion – coming out with an opening offer in the next couple of weeks, before most of the lower ranks. And that would be big news here as it would turn the normal routine on its head.
Saint-Emilion Classification: a French Farce
July 6th 2008, by GQ
The long running saga concerning the re-classication of the top estates of St-Emilion took another twist this week when a court in Bordeaux ruled against the recently revised rankings. The whole affair has been widely reported, as in The Daily Telegraph, and by Sophie Kevany on decanter.com. Wikipedia’s current entry on this debacle is now right up-to-date and includes the useful, but now suspended, 2006 classification.
The Best Value Wine in the World
May 24th 2008, by GQ
No, not mine. I thought for my first blog post, I should start at the top: the wine in question is Pétrus 2005.
I first tasted a barrel sample of this ‘legend in the making’ in April 2006 with Christian Mouiex, who runs Pétrus and a few other choice estates in Pomerol. Scores of other tasters – mainly merchants and critics – had a chance to taste the young wine that same week before the wine was sold ‘en primeur’. Monsieur Mouiex is one of the most charming men you could hope to meet, and it’s no surprise to see that he picked up Decanter’s Man of the Year award this year. (Although with titles like that, it’s no wonder that women sometimes feel intimidated by the world of wine.)
He told me that Pétrus shouldn’t be thought of as being one of the most expensive wines on the planet, but as the best value wine in the world. ‘You only have to own it for a short time and it goes up in value’.
He has a point. Corney and Barrow, the UK agents for Pétrus – one of the handful of exclusive arrangements for top flight Bordeaux – released the 2005 ‘en primeur’ at £11,000 a case (of 12) in July 2006. Less than two years on, I see that Berry Brothers are offering the same wine at £42,000 a case, and Farr Vintners for a mere £36,000. (In fact, the wine was first sold in ‘physical’ cases of 3 or 6 bottles.)