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A Lament for Bordeaux 2003

"It has been a long drawn out campaign" was the opening statement of an e-mail I recently received from a popular wine merchant. They're not wrong. The en primeur campaign for the Bordeaux 2003 vintage has been an unusual one, characterised by high prices and smarting consumers.

The seeds were sown in the Summer of 2003, when Europe sweltered in a prolonged heatwave. Naturally expectations were raised, especially after the 2001 and 2002 vintages which did not sell well, even though many fine wines were produced. A hot vintage would yield super-ripe, concentrated, thick-skinned and healthy grapes, surely a recipe for great wines? There were concerns, however, as the heatwave continued relentlessly. With such heat, and absence of rain, the vines were at risk of arrested progress - shutting down photosynthesis, and development of the fruit, because of dehydration stress. By and large, however, there was a healthy crop of well developed grapes, but as these were harvested another problem was highlighted; acidity. This was a style of vintage with which Australian vintners may be more familiar than the Bordelais. For the first time ever acidification of the wines was permitted in Bordeaux. But would the vignerons be able to handle this new demand? All the punter could do was wait for the tasting notes and reviews in order to try and judge the vintage, and decide what they wanted to purchase.

Robert Parker And so in Spring 2004 the world's wine hacks descended on Bordeaux in droves, feasting on the barrel samples - not the finished product you note - of tannic, tooth-staining wines that were on offer. And the murmurings were positive. Despite the initial concerns, of baked and burnt fruit, of low acidities or clumsy acidification, the wines turned out in many cases to be excellent. The punters waited, as did the vignerons, for no-one moves a muscle without the word of Parker.

And the word was good.

Superlatives abounded. There were indeed some excellent wines produced, with Parker likening several wines to the great 1959 and 1961 vintages, tasted in their youth, despite the fact that Parker never tasted these vintages on release. A small group of wines were on the receiving end of high accolades indeed - described as the greatest young Bordeaux Parker had ever tasted. With these words punters knew that their credit cards were about to feel the strain. Only the Parker-Robinson spat about Chateau Pavie, about which enough has been written, served as a distraction.

And so the campaign got underway, with the first offer to hit my mailbox - over 250 emails ago - being a reasonably priced Chasse-Spleen at £120 per case, released on April 6th. But what followed was silence, rather than a sudden rush of releases, with the Bordelais curiously reluctant to lay their cards on the table. There seemed to be a waiting game going on, and it was a month later, on May 6th, that we had our first true taste of what the 2003 en primeur campaign was all about. The Rothschilds tested the water with the release of Duhart Milon at an ambitious £175 per case - a wine I described in my producer profile as 'good value'. The wine sold though, and with trepidation other properties broke ranks and released their wines. This was still a slow process, however, as Duhart Milon was by no means the pinnacle of 2003. There were more impressive price tags to come, and the wine trade treaded carefully. Cos d'Estournel at £850 and Montrose at £990, not to mention the top first growths at something heading towards £2000 per case, prices way in excess of recent vintages such as 2001 or 2002.

This is the Parker effect; high prices for high scored wines. Even those with the confidence to buy without Parker scores - such as in 2002 - can not avoid this phenomenon as the Bordelais will not release their wines until the scores have been published. Spineless stuff indeed from those who should have the metal to set their own prices. The blame does not lie at the feet of Parker - he provides a service to the consumer and does not set the prices - although if he provided this service at a different time the effect would be very different, this being a lesson plain for all to see in the cheap-as-chips 2002 vintage. So where does the blame lie?

Firstly, with the Bordelais. The slow campaign made it clear that this vintage was going to be milked for all it was worth. A tentative release of a high priced wine, followed by even higher prices as the months - yes, this campaign lasted months - passed by made their intentions clear. The wines were released in small tranches, reflecting the smaller crop this year, but this only fuelled the sense of low supply in the face of high demand. I am not surprised at this behaviour - this is business after all - but it is disappointing to say the least for lovers of Montrose and Cos to watch any chance of purchasing the latest vintage go up in smoke, set alight by a high score and a four-fold price hike. These are the loyal buyers who part with hard-earned cash each year for a case, even in lesser vintages. I wonder whether they will be so ready to part with their cash next year when the wine is less rich in points? Perhaps they may turn to other more affordable Bordeaux properties, or maybe just other wine producing regions, full stop. There are so many great wines to choose from nowadays.

What really irks me is that in a years time, with perhaps less exalted wines from the 2004 vintage - I am speculating of course - the prices will decrease a little. With this tiny titbit the wine press will fawn over the Bordelais for their 'good business sense' and for bringing the wines back 'within the reach of drinkers'. What rot.

Anthony Barton of Chateau Leoville-Barton One Bordeaux property with a reputation for a fair prix de sortie is Anthony Barton of Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton. This year a good price seemed to be £330 on the UK market, with most merchants listing upwards of this price. I'm not convinced that this modest price rise over previous vintages was down to Barton, however, as evidenced by prices in the rest of Europe - less than £300 per case - and in the recently released Majestic Wine Warehouse offer - just £270 per case. So we all know where the extra cash is going when we buy a case for £425, which is the going rate at the time of writing, and this brings us nicely to the next source of blame.

After the Bordelais come the traders, merchants, wholesale brokers or whatever you want to call them. The people who bring the wine to the market. For simplicity I am bypassing any comment on the actions of the courtiers and négociants, vital steps in the antiquated distribution system for Bordeaux. They all take their cut, but without a window into this world it is impossible to see just how sizeable a cut that is (although courtiers generally take 2%, funded by the négociants, if you are interested). But by watching the market one can glean some information about those that bring the wine to the punter.

It was painfully clear this year that one very large wholesale merchant played a dominating role in the market. With each release they were the first to market with a price, and other merchants followed suit. Punters telephoning their usual source of en primeur wines were surprised to be told that although the allocation had been received, they could not yet set a price. It was only once the leading merchant lead the way that the rest followed. There can only be one plausible explanation for this. It's not a formal cartel - I doubt there was any formal agreement on price-setting - but it's something very close to it. The merchants were screwing the market for as much as it could take, rather than adding on the usual cut. A smaller merchant ran the risk of under-pricing if they struck out on their own; why list a case you purchased for £450 from the négociant at a mere £650, when the market will choke down £990? Not all were so greedy - there are one or two tales of Montrose purchased at about £650, by those with long-term ties with a merchant, on allocation - but these tales are few and far between.

But for now, the campaign is at last over. And I am relieved. What is often an enjoyable spectacle - whether one purchases or not - has been rather painful this year. Consumers, save those affluent few with no real limit on their wine budget, feel ripped off. Both by the Bordelais as a whole and by the merchants. There is a solution to the events of the past week, a way of preventing a similar debacle in future. But it lies not with the Bordelais, or with the merchants, but in Baltimore MD, and I have alluded to it above. But I won't be holding my breath. Roll on the 2004 campaign.(25/6/04)