'08 Bordeaux: first of the big guns out, at -70%

Hi guys,

2008 Ch. Angélus came out yesterday at 50 euros a bottle, as opposed to 85 for the 2007 vintage.

Owner Hubert de Boüard was quoted as saying in Sud-Ouest: "Either château owners will gaze at their navel, or they will analyze what's happening on the market [and draw the necessary conclusions]. The US and UK are in the midst of a financial crisis and the rest of Europe is not doing any better. The Asians buy little wine on a futures basis. Furthermore, Japan and Korea are suffering too."
He also said: "Angélus 2008 has come out at the same price as the 2004, a time when the estate was doing well financially, and the same could be said for the wine trade and distributors. A time when customers could afford to buy a 12-bottle case in order to drink the wine themselves. However, now, the wines are being bought and resold, and sometimes coming back on the market at under the en primeur price. I am worried about the future of the system, and want to be able to sell Angélus to wine-drinking consumers in the future"

Angélus has put 50% of their production on the market in the first tranche.

It has been customary for château owners to wait a few weeks after the barrel tastings to see what the wine critics (especially one from Monkton, Maryland, USA) have to say before coming out on the market. Well, I respect Hubert de Bouärd for taking the bull by the horns beforehand.

Please, no crocodile tears about those left holding the baby with the 2007 vintage. No one could know at the time how the 2008 vintage would shape up, nor that financial markets would plunge.

The buzz in Bordeaux at present is that 2008 is a Right Bank vintage (sorry for the generalization, with the usual caveats), and Pomerol in particular has good press.

I wish Mr. de Boüard success in selling his wine, as I do the other great growths of Bordeaux.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[Jenise]

Very sensible. Thanks for the news!

Thanks for the post, Alex. Let's hope the attitude is contagious.

[David M. Bueker]

Put 'em under screw cap & I am in!

I guess that should be -40%, right?

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

[David M. Bueker]

Indeed it is 40% (35/85=0.4 or 40%).

Of course there won't be a screwcap, so I'm out anyway.

David, to the best of my knowledge, the only red Bordeaux you can buy with a screwcap is Haut-Médoc Cru Bourgeois Château d'Agassac. But you have to buy it en primeur and specifically order screwcaps. I have done so since vintage 2004 when they started it.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks Michael. Now that the 2008s are starting to show up I will be sorely tested in my vow to avoid corks.

Sorry, I may have missed a prior discussion on the topic and I know about rates of corked wine, but isn't Bordeaux exactly the kind of wine you DON'T want under screwcap? It's a wine that only shines with lots of bottle age, and as I understand it screwcapped wines age at a glacial pace.

Wrong, sorry.

To quote Peter Gago, Penfold's chief wine-maker with solid 15 years of experience of top reds under screw-cap: "They do age at a slightly slower pace, like wine from a very cool cellar compared to a normal one."

Thus said, one can easily counteract: Simply store at 60F instead of the seemingly holy 55F, and there you are.

I'm not in unless the prices drop to '02 levels.

When I look online and at local stores, I see oodles of '04 on the shelves at these same prices several years after the fact, and I continue to see offers for '05 that are dropping to original futures pricing. Even at this discount level, '08 will be on the shelves many years before it sells through.

This is a false bargain IMO.