Bordeaux 2015: Releases are accelerating

With the Pape-Clément, Armailhac, Malescot St-Exupéry and Langoa-Barton châteaux, en primeur releases are picking up speed.

Yesterday morning, it was the Châteaux Beychevelle and Lafleur which revealed their release prices, and Pape-Clément in the afternoon.

The wine from the Graves estate was put on the market at a price of €58.8 a bottle, an increase of 18.1 TP3T compared to 2014 (exactly the average price increase predicted by the members of Liv- ex).

Sold around £625 (€790) a case in London, this wine is more expensive than some less recent vintages but still significantly less than its 2005 (almost half the price), 2009 and 2010 vintages. elsewhere suggested that wines from this geographic area would likely be the best opportunities this year.

Some may not be convinced by its price, its ratings (97-98 points for Neal Martin of The Wine Advocate) or its potential and will prefer the 2012 vintage which has a similar note but was one of Robert Parker's favorite wines for this vintage and is sold for £571 (€724) a case.

This morning, the third grand cru Malescot (Margaux) came out at €34.8 a bottle, the Château d'Armailhac at €28.8 and Langoa-Barton at €32. All these prices are on the increase compared to those of 2014.

Malescot released its 2014 vintage at €29.5 a bottle. Like Pape Clément, its 2015 price is therefore 18 % higher; d'Armailhac is up by 20 % (€24 in 2014) and Langoa-Barton, up by just over 10 % (€29 in 2014).

Once again, if we look at their “value”, these releases are all generally less expensive than their respective 2005 vintage.

Chateau d'Armailhac is probably the least interesting compared to the available vintages in terms of price margins (on Liv-ex), although the 2015 has a better rating than many older vintages.

Langoa-Barton is in a comparable situation since its 2009 and 2014 vintages received similar ratings but are both cheaper. Trader Corney & Barrow, however, explains in an offer sent by e-mail to its customers that Langoa-Barton "deserves to be at the top of this offer because its increase compared to the previous vintage is very moderate and it fulfills our criteria by remaining much cheaper than 2005, 2009 and 2010. We loved this wine and strongly recommend it. »

Malescot is probably the most convincing wine: its 2015 (rated 93-95 points by Neal Martin) has a better rating than older, cheaper vintages but its release price is lower than the 2005, 2009 and 2010 vintages, better noted.

May 10th, 2016

Rupert Millar

The Drinks Business