Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Primeur Picks
I had a feeling I should open my Primeur Picks conclusion, the final instalment of my Bordeaux 2014 report in which I look at what are likely to be the best buys of the vintage, with some sort of comment on the state of the Bordeaux market at the current time and what impact this might have on the release prices, and our purchasing decisions. I imagine most reading this can already imagine the sort of conclusions I might draw. And no doubt most readers can would be able to add a few choicely worded conclusions of their own, or perhaps you would rather fine-tune mine. After all, we all have different perceptions of value, and we all have different levels of disposable income; judging whether a wine is ‘too expensive’ for the quality is thus a very personal thing.
Anyway, how about these:
Most release prices are likely to be too expensive for the quality of the wine.
As a result, the wines are destined to decline in value over time following primeurs release, as they find their real value in the market.
Despite this, the en primeur system seems to rumble on.
I thought before I wrote down my thoughts, however, that I should first look back at what I wrote last year as my Bordeaux 2013 primeurs report drew to a close. On reading it, however, I realised that I had already said almost everything I wanted to say on 2014 in reference to the 2013 vintage. It’s at this moment that I have to confess that the above three phrases were all lifted, with a few tweaks, from my 2013 Primeur Picks report. It now seems as though I have entered my own personal Bordeaux Groundhog Day, destined to spend my time reliving the same primeur campaign over and over, eternally tasting, and eternally pointing out the failings of what was once a beneficial system for selling wine. Once I have relived this cycle over 10,000 days I will eventually go crazy, and proceed to drive my primeurs hire car off one of the limestone cliffs dotted around St Emilion, thinking this will end it all. As the screen fades to black the alarm sounds, and I wake up once again in my room in the Libourne Ibis Budget hotel, with yet another day of sweaty tasting rooms and green, grainy tannins ahead of me.
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