Summary of the 2009 Vintage
We can clearly say it is without doubt an excellent vintage. Almost perfect growing conditions and weather during harvest, despite a few hail storms in May but none of the big boys were affected. It was a vintage without extremes in many cases. It rained at the right times and the temperatures were ideal and not extreme like 2003.
It looks like the Cabernet grapes have performed slightly better than the merlot and as a result many Chateaux have put more Cabernet in their final blend and more merlot has gone into the second wines. We personally think that some Chateau have picked too late in their quest for optimum ripeness and concentration in flavour. As a result their wines have become slightly higher in alcohol. This has occurred more on the right bank (St Emilion and Pomerol) rather than on the left bank.
Everyone wants to know how the vintage compares to previous vintages. Bill Blatch in our view provides one of the best analysis. “Overall, of all the great vintages of the last 100 years, '09 seems to have more in common with the silky concentration of '82, '47 or '29, rather than the more robust tannic balance of '05, '00 or '28. Yet it does not seem to have all the warm, exotic softness of the extreme heat-wave vintages '03, '90 and '21, nor the more traditional style of the '45 and '61 (which got their concentration primarily from the tiny yields caused by freak late May frosts). Comparisons to other vintages are proverbially difficult to make, but maybe we can say that '09 is what '82 or '85 would have been if the vineyard and the yields had been managed as today, or what the '47 would have been if the vinification had been controlled as today. All of these historic vintages seem to share the same sweetness of concentrated fruit as the '09, but in those days, 12% for the Cabs and 13% for the Merlots was the absolute maximum. These '09s have, in addition, far higher alcohol levels which make the vintage - so far – unique. Better? We'll see.”
At the moment our biggest concern is all the hype and how this will affect prices. We are doing our best to secure allocations when they are released and will put out a weekly review when the campaign starts properly so that you aren't overwhelmed with emails. We will allocate stocks first to those who bought from us last year. We have never seen such demand for the top Chateau, it would be helpful if you could send us your wish list and we will do our best.
Investing in wine? In my opinion, wine is a commodity and like all commodities it's all about supply and demand and simple economics. Demand in great vintages, are often created by the top wine critics. The top critics are Robert Parker and his sidekick Neal Martin, James Suckling, Jancis Robinson and Steven Spurrier. For this reason we have collated their tasting notes and scores.
We are also seeing an increased demand for the following reasons:
1. The top investment wine last year (2008 vintage) has increased in value by 250%.
2. No Capital Gain tax on wine investment - People are fed up paying high taxes and looking for good alternative investments.
3. Money tide up in bank accounts is currently giving a poor return.
4. Wine Investment is now an international market and less affected by Governments or single Country economics.
5. Top Critics are all over the 2009 vintage...
Jancis Robinson “I have never given so many really high scores when tasting en primeur anywhere... The wines were, in general, a huge pleasure to taste, with luscious ripeness but also in more cases quite enough acidity and heavily disguised, often record levels of tannin."Robert Parker “2009 may turn out to be the finest vintage I have tasted in 32 years of covering Bordeaux. From top to bottom, 2009 is not as consistent as 2005, but the peaks of quality in 2009 may turn out to be historic”
An analysis of Robert Parker's scores looking at the Top 30 Chateaux his average scores are:
2000 96.2/100 2005 95/100 2009 96.7/100
Note: Wine Scores in the list with an * are the finest potential of all the offerings he has ever tasted from this estate in nearly 32 years of barrel tasting.
If you are considering buying En Primeur please contact James Goodhart on 01765 688200 as soon as possible to register your interest and receive a full copy of the report with our recommendations. Once the campaign starts we will publish some of the wines on the website, most wines will be allocated straight after release and move as quickly as they come in, there will only be a fraction of wines available on the website to buy online.
Our 2009 En Primeur Recommendations
Wines of The Vintage
Latour
Cos D'Estournel
Angelus
Lafite
Montrose
Tertre Roteboeuf
Mouton Rothschild
Vieux Chateau Certan
Dom de Chevalier Rouge
Haut Brion
Troplong Mondot
Pavie Macquin
Margaux
Leoville Poyferre
Leoville Lascases
La Mission
Cheval Blanc
Calon Segur
Pontet Canet
L'Evangile
Suduiraut
La Mission
Haut Brion Ausone
Best Value Buy (Price Dependent)
Prieure Lichine
Fombrauge
La Tour Carnet
Grand Puy Ducasse
de Fieuzal Rouge
Saintayme
Haut Batailley
St Pierre (St Julien)
Clos du Marquis
Cantemerle
Lafron Rochet
Gloria
Du Tertre
Ormes de Pez
Labegorce
Armailhac
Clerc Milon
Gruaud Larose
Rouget
Malartic Lagraviere
Chinese Impact
The Chinese are likely to be the largest consumers of fine wines in the next 10 years. Like all new and emerging markets for the wines of Bordeaux, they began by showing interest in the historic 1855 classification of the Medoc and purchasing the associated wines. This interest has spread to the top wines from the right back and will inevitably move onto other iconic wines from other regions in France and indeed the world.
