After two weeks of fervent activity, the campaign is slowly winding down. Bar Ausone, all of the biggest names have now emerged – albeit in small quantities – and many 2009s are now seeing strong trade on the secondary market. Below is a roundup of this week’s EP releases.
The most expensive releases of the campaign emerged this week, with chateaux rising an average of 57% on 2005, compared with 29% the previous week. Mission Haut Brion bore one of the heftiest price tags at €540 p/b ex-negociant – up 390% on 2008 and 272% on 2005. Cos d’Estournel also turned heads, surfacing at €210 – a 75% increase on 2005. Nonetheless, the second growth has seen good levels of trade so far at around £2,300 per case.
Most notably perhaps, this week saw all five Firsts come to market. Lafite, Margaux and Mouton were released at €550 p/b ex-negociant (allocations were extremely difficult to come by) whilst Latour and Haut Brion were slightly more expensive at €600 p/b (the size of the Haut Brion tranche was relatively large).
As you can see from the chart below, many of the Firsts are trading above the current market price of their respective 2005s, with some even rising above the 2000s. Interestingly, only one week after the release of Lafite (the first of the Premier Cru to emerge this year), a market hierarchy has already emerged. Despite releasing at similar prices, Lafite and Latour have seen much greater price movement over the last few days. Lafite in particular is now trading at around €1,286 per bottle – almost double the price of Haut Brion.
Compared with 2009 prices, some First Growth back vintages now appear relatively cheap. Haut Brion 2000 (RP 98) is trading at €545 p/b (£5,400 per case) – 20% cheaper than 2009, whilst Mouton 2005 (RP 96) looks appealing at €509 p/b (£5,050 per case).
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