What’s happening in the market?
Tuscany has had a strong start to the week, accounting for 9.4% of total trade since Monday. The region was buoyed by decent volumes of Casanova di Neri, Brunello di Montalcino, Tenuta Nuova 2019 changing hands as well as demand for Marroneto, Brunello di Montalcino, Madonna Grazie 2018.
The United States has taken 8.0% of trade share so far this week, led by two vintages of Screaming Eagle, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, the 2018 and the 2008. As well as both the 2015 and 2018 vintages of Harlan Estate.
Today’s deep dive: Jane Anson’s Bordeaux 2021 in-bottle scores
Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux) has recently published a series of in-depth reports covering Bordeaux 2021 in-bottle scores.
Anson did not give any wines a perfect 100 points – or even 99 points. Instead, her highest score (98 points) was reserved for two white wines, Château Haut-Brion, Blanc and Château d’Yquem, Y d’Yquem.
‘Let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of excitement out there about the 2021 vintage, and many wines that do not hit their usual standard’, summarises Anson in her Top 100 wines of 2021 report.
Of the 200 wines tasted from the Left Bank, Château La Mission Haut-Brion had the highest score with 97 points. Followed by Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Palmer and Château Haut-Bailly all with 96 points.
Of the Left Bank, Anson notes that ‘when they get it right, one of the real pleasures of 2021 is that even classified estates can be approached earlier than usual.’ However, she also suggests ‘seeing anything over 90 as a success in the vintage – there are many wines sat below this level.’
97 points was also the highest score awarded to the Right Bank wines, going to Château Figeac, Château Valandraud, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Bélair-Monange from Saint-Emilion and Château L’Eglise Client from Pomerol all received 96 points.
Like Neal martin (Vinous) and Alexandre Ma (alexandrema.com), Anson praised the quality of the 2021 white wines, highlighting that ‘as a rule, Sauvignon Blanc has done the best in the vintage, with fresh aromatics.’.
On top of the two 98-point scores to white wines, she also awarded Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux and Château Rieussec 97 points.
The highly-rated Château Haut-Brion, Blanc currently has Market Price of £6,600, a 9.8% discount to its international release price of £7,320 per 12×75.
With 96 points, Château Cheval Blanc may present an opportunity for buyers, it last changed hands £3,560 per 12×75, a 9.9% discount on its current Market Price and a 25.5% discount to its release price (£4,780 per 12×75).
Equally, Château Lafite Rothschild has declined in price since its release, down 16.7% since release (£5,800 per 12×75).
In our closing report at the time, we said that the ‘the Bordeaux 2021 En Primeur campaign [was] one of the least successful of recent times’, with reports that ‘feedback from merchants across the globe is that most of them sold far less than last year, with volume and value sales down for a few by as much as 60%.’
For further insight on the vintage’s En Primeur campaign, see our 2021 concluding report, Bordeaux 2021 – Predictable chaos.
There are over 343 LIVE Bordeaux 2021 opportunities currently on Liv-ex. Log in to the exchange to view them.
In case you missed it
Here’s what we’ve been reading:
- Liv-ex – Bordeaux en primeur: will a ‘35% reduction to recalibrate’ be enough?
- The Financial Times – OpenAI and Meta ready new AI models capable of ‘reasoning’
- The Wine Advocate – Portugal: Landing Back in Portugal with a Focus on Dão
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
