What to frustrate. The Bordeaux Grands Crus have their responsibility with early outings at very small prices, up to -50 % in two years, but buyers take their time, playing safety. Especially since there are stocks of deliverable vintages and the economic conditions remain heavy in short-term.
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Rix and broken primeurs? Seeking their rhythm between the holidays in May, the outings of Grands Crus de Bordeaux as early as follows and are alike by their consequent decreases of prices: this May 6 Château Cheval Blanc 2024 displays 276 euros the ex-nine bottle “Unheard of for 10 years” reports the Liv-Ex platform (-29.5 % compared to the 2023 vintage of the former first Grand Cru classified in Saint-Émilion), this April 30, the Château Angelus was released at 180 € in 2013 (-31 %) and this April 29 The Château Lafite Rothschild was released at 288 € ex-NEGOCE “Returning to the 2014 prize” (-27 % compared to 2023 for the first Grand Cru classified in 1855 from Pauillac). Enough to display rates in primary prime to market prices, in line with the example given by the Château Brane-Ducru (Grand Cru classified in 1855 of Saint-Julien).
A price reduction strategy expected by the markets and validated by Place de Bordeaux: “Trade maintains that areas must propose important reductions in order to arouse demand” indicate Vitisphere The Wine Lister consulting agency, reporting the judgment of a leading Bordeaux merchant: “All the wines that have not yet been released must ensure that their price is the cheapest on the market if they want to hope to sell. To establish the exit price of 2024, it is not necessary to rely at the previous exit prices, but to take into account the prices of the current market, the nuance is important. »» But will attract attractive prices suffice to succeed in this campaign? Between stocks of old vintages that are still available (with notes now validated and at reduced prices for 2021 in particular) and an ever more uncertain world economy (encouraging not to store), it seems difficult to impose the idea that the wines offered as earlynce will see their prices when their accessibility will be limited in time. If the drop in prices feeds many sales on the Place de Bordeaux, it is neither easy nor madness in the current economic context.
Some frustration
“There is a certain frustration. Everyone has taken their responsibility and did what it takes ” indicate Vitisphere A Bordeaux merchant, for whom the problem does not come from the sector this year, but from an economic context forcing caution. Not to say a security strategy (stocks are no longer financial, interest rates weakening negotia and properties that are too busy). For this merchant, “We are only at the beginning of the marketing, but we have the feeling that the one who will campaign, the end consumer, has still not been informed of the release of a good vintage at the right price. Everyone is waiting. »»
Bordeaux primers are clearly no longer in an immediacy system where at a sale price made the purchase compulsory. “The period when trading sold in one morning all of its wines is over” points out the commercial director of a classified vintage, for whom the merchants must learn to hold longer primeur campaigns without giving in to the lower pressure of buyers: “Patience is not the virtue of all traders, who are put under pressure by their buyers to lower prices in a spirit of competition. In this context it must be seen that the campaign is done in the long time. It is not linked to the vintage, but to a tense context (economically, politically, geopolitically …). »»
Too little and late?
More “Why now secure purchases of 2024, when we can find them at the same price in 2 or 4 years and we can now buy wines of 10 years of age available? »» Pose Romain Grudzinski, the Europe manager of the English platform Liv-ex. For the expert, the prices 2024 are too unattractive for the purchase to be imposed in its immediacy: “When Mouton Rothschild came out at € 70 in 2002, everyone bought it for stock as we were sure not to be less expensive. We had to confirm purchases within 6 hours, today we have two months to validate an offer. Current prices make you need to throw yourself on it, you should go even lower. »»
After substantial declines during the 2023 primeurs (after the failed meeting of the 2022 vintage), going even lower seems difficult to hear in properties having seen their selling prices flare since the 2000s (with the high Chinese demand for great vintages, now sluggish), having invested in their production tools (from the agroecological turning point in the vineyard to the new cathedral chais for gravity vinifications) and having Paid dearly for the production of the 2024 vintage (very tense climatic, with strong mildew pressure). “We can always imagine going lower, but is this the only way to meet the market?” »» Do you have a property on a property.
Nothing is played
If it is difficult to know the cost of production of a classified Grand Cru, it appears that more and more sells at a loss of lots weighing on their stocks. While trading sees its bank support is reduced to the costs of past fixed assets. Beyond the 2024 primary campaign, one of the elephants in the room being the future of 2022 vintage stocks, of quality deemed exceptional, but with prices clearly missed the markets. If an influx of prizes from the 2022 vintage come out with prices revised downwards, 2024 will have to fight even more to attract buyers who have the last word. Broken prices and primeurs?
