Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Dreams & Reality
A much better plan for the 2012 vintage – and one that I personally intend to follow – is to sit and wait. There are, admittedly, a few right bank bargains where buying now would not be disadvantageous, mainly because the quality is good and the wines are cheap (meaning there is no room for prices to go down). If I succumb to the temptation (and never say never!) this is where my money would be directed, towards the good quality and good value wines of the right bank. These would be wines ultimately tucked away in the cellar for drinking; this is certainly not a vintage for investors.
Having said that I might succumb, it is also important to recognise that there is no likely disadvantage to sitting out the 2012 vintage for the moment. Indeed, I see no reason not to wait until the wines are physically available, rather than tying up your money for two years. By this time, further assessment of the finished wines will give more certain guidance, and you are safe from ending up with a primeurs dud on your hands. This is a real possibility with Bordeaux 2012, especially in the famous left bank communes of Pauillac and St Julien where many vines did not cope well with the late summer drought. We should not (in my opinion) be rushing to snap up leaner left bank wines with hollow midpalates purely based on what are (in most cases) at best moderate price reductions that do not reflect the lesser quality within the wines, but instead reflect what the châteaux think they can get away with.
