En primeur: Bordeaux 2008 puts cat among the vintages

Well before a single sample was poured at this year’s Bordeaux en primeur tastings, the omens for the campaign were far from promising.

It was not just the global economic crisis, sterling’s continued weakness against the euro, or the paucity of potential buyers that concerned UK merchants.

What worried them was how to sell what many predicted would be another over-priced and unexceptional vintage, like the 2007. Farr Vintners were so negative that they didn’t even go to taste the wines.

Yet those who did go and taste in March were astonished to discover that the 2008s were really rather good – not in the class of 2005, but certainly much better than anyone, including the Bordelais, had believed possible. They were certainly a marked improvement on the expensively limp 2007s.

All of which presented Bordeaux proprietors with a dilemma. Should they sell a superior vintage at significantly lower prices, hanging out the 2007s to dry? Or would they show two fingers to the market by protecting the ’07s, with yet more expensive pricing – even though this risked yet another unsold vintage?

We did not have long to wait for the answer. In mid-April, the left bank First Growths took many by surprise when Latour released a small opening tranche at €110 ($154) a bottle, swiftly followed by Lafite and Margaux at the same price and Mouton at €100. Only Haut-Brion held out for more, asking €130.

Normally, the Firsts come out last and high rather than low and early. More unusual was that they had not waited for US wine critic Robert Parker’s all-important scores.

The result was that punters could buy Lafite and Latour for as little as £1,590 a case on the London market. For Latour, it meant an almost unprecedented drop of 45 per cent in euro terms and 34 per cent in sterling, compared with prices for the 2007s. It was also the cheapest Latour on the market. No other recent vintage was trading for less than £2,250 a dozen.

At a single stroke the Firsts had saved the campaign. Not least because the rest of Bordeaux was duty-bound to follow. Angelus, Leoville-Barton, Montrose, Lynch-Bages, Duhart-Milon, Pichon-Lalande all then came out at prices 20-40 per cent down.

But not every wine was selling so well.

Palmer and Angelus were still considered too high at £1,000 and £720, respectively. The only thing that could rescue them was a high Parker score.

Palmer’s prayers were duly answered on April 30, when Mr Parker delivered arguably the most astonishing controversial set of scores of his 30-year career.

He declared the vintage “excellent with a number of superb wines that are close to, if not equal to the prodigious 2005 or 2000 vintages”. It was nothing short of a bombshell.

But the devil was in the detail – his marks suggested that 2008 was actually even better than 2005.

Several UK merchants were dumbstruck by the results: “I really don’t understand his scores at all,” says Simon Staples from Berry Bros & Rudd.

“He went crazy about 2003, out on his own, and he missed 2005 when everyone loved it and now he is screaming about 2008, when we just think it was better than we had hoped for. I’m afraid he’s on his own.”

Others though, including Albany Vintners’ Marcus Edwards were more circumspect. “Clearly, he has gone out on a limb, but not for the first time. Moreover, it’s worth pointing out that Parker tends to get it right more often than not.”

Right or wrong, the market backed Mr Parker. Overnight, wines such as Palmer and La Mission which had not really sold, suddenly started to move in decent quantities. “Lafite just went bang,” says Farr Vintner’s Stephen Browett. Armed with a 98-100 score, it surged up to £3,600 a case on the secondary market before settling to £3,250.

Thereafter, high-scoring chateaux that came out after Mr Parker’s review inevitably priced their wines at less of a discount than the earlier releases.

Some, including Cheval Blanc, Leoville-las-Cases and Cos d’Estournel released at levels much closer to their 2007s, which did not appear to offer such good value.

Ducru Beaucaillou at £750 and Pontet-Canet at £595 dared to come out higher than in 2007.

Even so, the ever-improving and much-fancied Pontet-Canet has produced another exceptional wine and sold well.

Remarkably, by the end of May, the campaign was finished – usually it drags on until the end of June or into July. And although a number of merchants have hailed it a surprising success (given their low expectations), many are also wondering what kind of legacy it will leave.

One question mark is whether the Bordelais will ever again pay heed to the UK wine trade continually crying wolf over en primeur pricing.

Another is whether any leading chateau will again release its wines in advance of Mr Parker’s review.

And finally, there remains the question of whether Mr Parker will be proven right over the quality of the vintage.

For that, we will have to wait a little longer.