A drink in the last-chance saloon?
Author: Simon Berry
The 2014 Bordeaux vintage, if you believe what you read in the newspapers, marks a watershed. A Claret-shed, possibly. If the Bordelais ‘get it right’, all will be well. If they ‘get it wrong’, the Cassandras will tell you, then civilisation as we know it will crumble to dust. At a wine trade event a week or so ago several distinguished members of the trade were discussing the latest pronouncement to emerge from the Médoc: ‘a miracle vintage’, someone had proclaimed. ‘Absolutely correct,’ said one wag. ‘It’ll be a miracle if they sell a bottle’.
But before we write Bordeaux off as a hopeless cause, it might be worth thinking what’s going on here. One thing’s for sure: good wines will have been made in Bordeaux last year. I was in the vineyards when the harvest was being brought in last October, and it was clear that the vintage was already a success. Perhaps not the ‘vintage of the century’ which, astonishingly, hasn’t come along for at least four years, but certainly more successful than anything since 2010: healthy grapes, ripened by a final few weeks of beneficent weather, and as a result smiling faces.
The Clarets of 2014 will be classic, more typical Claret if you prefer; ‘better’, in many people’s view. Very few will ‘get it wrong’ as far as the standard of the wine is concerned. Where they do, it’s our job to inform you of the fact – or, at the very least, decline to list the wine.
‘Getting it right’, in effect, means getting the pricing right; and here there is less cause for optimism. From the outside, it seems very simple. The UK trade sent an open letter to Bordeaux a few weeks ago pointing out that it’s not rocket science. All Ch. Plume de Ma Tante has to do is surf to Wine Searcher, and look up the current market price for earlier vintages of its wines – 2010, for example, or 2008, or if they’re feeling very confident (and there are any bottles still out there), 2005; then make sure that the 2014 Ch. Plume de Ma Tante sells for a lower price than the earlier vintages. Quite, as my old maths master used to say, easily done.
However the Bordelais châteaux throw up their hands in exasperation at such a suggestion. Don’t we realise that the euro has weakened in the last year, they say? Don’t we realise that such an action would mean that the 2014s would be released at a lower price than the 2013s, 2012s and 2011s and that would mean (they don’t say) the négociants of Bordeaux sitting on warehouses of stock that would be impossible to sell?
Up until a few weeks ago Bordeaux was putting its faith in America. China may not have proved to be the goldmine of their dreams; the traditional European markets may be proving too demanding and unappreciative – but the United States had hardly bought en primeur since 2008, and with the dollar strengthening and the euro weakening surely the transatlantic market would open up? Then came a bombshell: Robert Parker, the man who single-handedly created the boom in Bordeaux prices in the early 1980s, announced that he will no longer be visiting Bordeaux for the en primeur tastings, and instead would be passing the baton to – Choc! Horreur! – a Brit. Not only a Brit, but Neal Martin, a Brit with much more traditional tastes than His Bobness.
As I write, Bordeaux is in a state of apoplexy at this news. What will this mean for the market – and will the Americans (all 320 million of them) buy if their oracle fails to pronounce from the mountaintop? Will they have to take the irritating British wine merchants a little more seriously, and find prices that the market will support, rather than finding markets prepared to pay their prices?
To sum up, nobody knows how the next few weeks will pan out. No one knows if the Bordelais will let reason prevail, and thereby save the en primeur market. No one knows if they will set prices to support the négociants, and the en primeur market will continue to stagger on, defying rumours of its demise, as it has for many years now.
I would venture to suggest, however, that it doesn’t really matter. It certainly doesn’t matter to you, the buyer of wine. The en primeur system, so far from being ‘time honoured’ as one Bordelais described it last year, has only really been around in its current form for 35 years. If it didn’t exist, no one would invent it from scratch. If the Bordelais do ‘get it wrong’ as far as prices are concerned for this vintage, they will certainly make some very good wines; and there will be plenty of other vintages on the market, and plenty of other wines from other parts of France, Europe or the rest of the world which will prove excellent investments, if only in future pleasure.
Follow our team in Bordeaux as they walk the vineyards, taste the 2014 wines and talk to the people who made them: they will be posting updates on the blog, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Having bought Bordeaux en primeur in each of the last five years, I have absolutely no interest in 2014 regardless of the price. History has taught me that no matter how low the en primeur price ‘appears’ to be, I can always buy the stock after delivery has happened at a lower one. The excellent BBX platform has opened up the market, allowing sellers who feel they have burned their fingers to desperately offload their stock into my greedy hands.
Customers private depend on the likes of Parker, Jancis and possibly others. The wine merchants have to sell in good years and bad. Bad year buyers know their past loyalty has a bearing on their ‘place in the line’ in good years. Nothing wrong with it, but…
Is it climate change, bad luck…? OK,many of us love the Rhone, have places in the cellar for good Alsace. Are we facing permanent climate change, God’s wrath or what? Few of us know anything about Italy, Spain, Chile, etc. A few like me know bits and pieces like Ridge, Margaret River, etc. Lucky me. Can firms like BBR really exist without Bordeaux and Burgundy? Are new wine nutters possible without trusted guides… You simply can not spin a Berry Bros or a Wine Society out of thin air. Fine, I’m over 80 but what do we tell our grand children?
I think that there are two things that BBR needs to do this year.
The first is to be brutally honest about the 2014 Bordeaux. No dressing up , no spin about bargains to be found – just a good honest review. If the producers can not provide value then BBR needs to avoid – rather than buy for the sake of historic relationships. In the long run who wants a discredited and overpriced product?
The second is for BBR to list new world wines of quality and value which are sadly lacking from its listings. I visited Chile and New Zealand and found fabulous upscale wines, which are not available in the UK and am now importing directly (which can be a pain) from countries that have wines that I rate highly. There is no point in BBR getting frustrated with its French partners and simply beefing up its Italian offerings – it needs to invoke its historic spirit and go into other regions with gusto and sell great wines from other parts of the world at reasonable prices.
Dear James,
Over the last year, Berry Bros. & Rudd has been focused on reviewing and expanding our range of New World wines. We are fortunate to have access to many of the great names across the world on our list but we are making targeted efforts to introduce new producers from different regions, especially at less expensive price points. As New World Buyer, I have been delighted to be able to introduce the first wines from (Argentine) Patagonia to our list, for example, made by the brilliant Bodega del Desierto in La Pampa. From Chile, we have brought in wonderful wines from Pandolfi Price in Itata and Loma Larga in Casablanca Valley – all of which retail for under £20. South Africa has been an exciting area of late with new regions such a Citrusdal Mountains being featured on our list (Tierhoek’s brilliant Sauvignon Blanc and Botanica’s gorgeous Chenin Blanc). Richard Kershaw’s fantastic duo from Elgin also proves what potential there is here, and Fable Mountain is our first producer from Tulbagh, next to the Swartland.
On the water at the moment, we also have some top level, esoteric wines from Hans Herzog in New Zealand – keep an eye out for his amazing Montepulciano, Arneis and Zweigelt when they arrive (yes, they are New Zealand wines, I promise you!). Also on the water are inexpensive wines from Uvaggio in California – a dry Muscat, a Vermentino and a Primitivo, all of which offer exceptional value for money.
I am constantly trying to evolve and expand our New World range. It is a process that takes time but I hope you will find some wines on our list this year that offer something new and a little bit different, as well as being exceptionally good to drink.
Kind regards,
Catriona