Primeurs : the end ?

Cheval Blanc and Petit Cheval, while looking for a few bottles to purchase of Lafleur, Le Pin and of course Pétrus.

The futures campaign is getting more and more difficult…. I have too many wines hard too sell for they are either too speculative or too expensive, and have a hard time to find the few sought after chateaux. It has become clear this year that the gap between the top 20/30 chateaux and the hundreds others sold en primeur is getting wider.

Parker, who’s end has been announced (like the Garage wines), has more and more influence on the market, while other critics have become source of information and for some, discoverer of new talents.

However, Bordeaux is not only top wines. Fortunately, every day, we sell – yes we sell – wines that don’t have spontaneous demand, normal Bordeaux like Coucy in Montagne Saint Emilion, Puy Arnaud Maurèze in Castillon and Présidial. We became specialized in what I call mid range wines, as we are not able to compete in entry level wines. It actually works out better as no one in my company likes these entry level and as we don’t have enough of the sought after Bordeaux icons!