- En Primeur price increases continued as the campaign wound down.
- Neal Martin added new scores for the Bordeaux 2020 vintage including two potential 100-point wines.
- Bordeaux wines from 2017 saw the most volume traded in the secondary market.
Neal Martin (Vinous) was able to travel to Bordeaux recently and taste many of the wines that were not shipped to him during his initial En Primeur 2020 tastings. He posted his findings which also included the re-scoring of both Margaux and Trotanoy to scores of 98-100, up from 97-99.
This is a big change, as in initial tasting Neal Martin did not score any wines with a 100-point potential.
This week also marked the final week of an extended En Primeur campaign, which featured a number of commemorative bottles, a hint of secondary market activity, and wide array of release price changes.
Major releases
Released price increases this week reached upwards of 90% from the 2019 vintage, as many of the release prices returned to that seen by the 2018 vintage.
Of the wines included in our coverage, the 2020s released at a 3.4% discount to 2018 release prices on average but at a 2.4% average premium to 2018 Market Prices.
Some of the largest prices increases per case from initial 2019 offers can be seen below:
- Château Petit-Village – 88.8%
- Château Haut-Brion – 44.8%
- Château Mouton Rothschild– 44.8%
- Château Palmer – 44.1%
- Château Haut-Bailly – 37.1%
- La Chapelle de la Mission Haut-Brion – 37.1%
- Château Léoville Las Cases – 36.1%
- Château La Mission Haut-Brion – 34%
- Château Ducru-Beaucaillou – 33.3%
Weekly trade
Regional trade share by value held relatively steady this week with Italy, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône seeing small drifts from the week before; Italy experiencing the largest dip.
Despite Italy’s small weekly drift and Bordeaux being much in the spotlight, Italy is on pace to claim its second largest month of trade share by value so far this year. En Primeur still holds the attention of the trade and consumer, but the secondary market is no longer over-shadowed by the campaign.
Château Mouton Rothschild 2000 was the top traded wine of the week. Six back vintages from the estate also found trade, the oldest being the 1978 vintage.
The 2017 vintage was the top traded vintage by volume in Bordeaux.
Rauzan-Ségla 2017 and Les Carmes Haut Brion 2017 led the 2017 vintage in trade by value. Two Italian wines also topped the list, Valdicava 2015 and Masseto 2011.
