As demand for Pavillon Rouge continues to intensify, Palmer’s position as the second-most expensive wine in Margaux is looking increasingly precarious. Over the past few months, Chateau Margaux's deuxieme vin has seen numerous vintages top £1,000 per (12x75cl) case, pushing the average current price of recent years (2000-2009) to around £1,135, just below Palmer at £1,325 (2000-2009). These averages hide notable disparity, however, as six of the last ten vintages of Pavillon are now more expensive than their Palmer equivalents, despite markedly inferior Parker scores. In fact, of the vintages in question, only Pavillon Rouge 2003 outscores Palmer at 92 points to 89.
As a result of brand rather than quality-conscious Asian buying, vintages of Pavillon Rouge are all available at around the same price level – within 25% of the average price. Palmer prices, on the other hand, reflect vintage variation, ranging from £875 per case for the 89-point 2003 to £2,350 per case for the 94-96 point 2009. As you can see from the table below, it is now only the top-scoring vintages of Palmer (2000, 2005, 2008 and 2009) that fetch higher prices than Pavillon.
All prices are for 12x75cl cases stored in bond. To calculate average Parker scores, the mid-point of the barrel-score spread was used for 2008 and 2009.
All scores from erobertparker.com.
