The Market

offer of the day – william fevre 2015

By billn on March 31, 2017 #the market

Interestingly my last comparison with this merchant is 2008 (in brackets) I think – all the wines are cheaper now!

CHABLIS WILLIAM FEVRE CHABLIS 2015
CHABLIS Village 75cl 19.00 (24.00) Swiss Francs
PREMIERS CRUS – DOMAINE
CHABLIS Montée de Tonnerre 75cl 38.00 (39.50)
GRANDS CRUS – DOMAINE
CHABLIS Preuses 75cl 65.00 (69.00)
CHABLIS Bougros Côtes de Bouquerots 75cl 65.00 (69.00)
CHABLIS Les Clos 75cl 75.00 (79.00)

So these prices are lower than 2008, which itself was lower than 2007 – in Swiss Francs – though the euro is much weaker since then…
These are good prices, and whilst I still have some concern about Les Clos, I would have confidence with the others, all DIAM sealed…

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strong prices @ hospices de nuits

By billn on March 29, 2017 #the market

Not to forget, just a few days ago we had the 56th auction of the wines of the Hospices de Nuits St.Georges – held this year at the Château du Clos de Vougeot.

Maître Daniel Herry, auctioneers from Beaune, were responsible for a sale that raised 1.157 million Euros, much of which will go toward the cost of refurbishment of the hospital in Nuits St.Georges. Given the frost of 2016, there were only 90.5 228 litre barrels in the sale – versus 120 barrels of 2015 auctioned in 2016 – also a low volume vintage. The average price, per barrel, increased by 14%, so proceeds passed the €1 million mark for only the second time and the total sum achieved was only €150,000 away from the record total for this sale.

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beaujolais 2015 & the current market for bj…

By billn on March 29, 2017 #beaujolais#the market

My February 2017 report is now online, and it’s a 2015 Beaujolais-fest. 51 domaines and 355 wines – it’s also a great vintage!

In 2016, only 3 French regions experienced an increase in both their wine sales volumes and values; Beaujolais, Burgundy and Corsica. The crus of Beaujolais had 42% of their region’s sales volume and 54% in value. Beaujolais Villages (not nouveau) posted 6% of volume and 6% value growth, whereas Beaujolais (not nouveau) represented 11% of sales volume and 7% in value.

Whilst not my favourite appellation, even the Beaujolais Blanc and Beaujolais Villages Blanc continued to grow their volume and the Beaujolais and Beaujolais Villages rosés – which I rate highly – increased by 7.2%. And then there’s Beaujolais Nouveau – whose sales volume is only a little less than that of the crus – even that label managed to grow its sales volume in 2016, albeit by only 0.1%.

At first sight this is a success story for Beaujolais but, unlike Burgundy, much of this growth has been bought – prices are really too low. Among the producers there’s a lot of fear about pricing, and dropping their prices in the face of buyers seems just a reflex action – whilst at the same time many producers see the cave cooperatives to be almost price-dumping. There are some price increases in the works for the brilliant 2015s, but often it amounts to 20-30 centimes per bottle – and the labels, corks, packaging and bottles have probably increased by more than that.

Having visited the magnificent ‘factory shop’ of Georges Duboeuf I have some sympathy with the price-dumping argument – how can a region ever drag itself from penury when it’s possible to buy a 2009 Fleurie off the shelf for €9? And Duboeuf is a long way from the worst offender!

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st.véran 2018

By billn on March 15, 2017 #diary dates#the market

For your diaries: St.Véran are organising the 74th Saint-Vincent – which will be held over the weekend of 27-28 January 2018 in Prissé…

And some Saint-Véran infos?

  • 1 variety : Chardonnay
  • 7 communes of production : Chânes, Chasselas, Davayé, Leynes, Prissé, Saint-Vérand et Solutré-Pouilly.
  • 726 hectares of vines in production in 2016
  • 37,000 hectolitres of wine produced in 2016
  • 200 cellars
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adieu laurent ponsot – sort of…

By billn on March 10, 2017 #producer update#the market

EDIT:

dsc01727Laurent Ponsot, pictured right, when tasting 2015s in Morey St.Denis, last November.

Laurent Ponsot has made a name for himself, not just by being the greatest exponent of the ‘late-harvest’ Burgundy, but also by being a fighter of fraud, or rather counterfeit wine, too. But it seems that events may have taken him by surprise at Domaine Ponsot.

I got wind of it earlier this week and left some messages/questions for Laurent – he hasn’t yet responded, though if he does I’ll edit this note – but it seems that it is the end for Domaine Ponsot as we know it, if not for many of Laurent’s wines.

See Bruce Sanderson’s note here.

Without direct info from the man himself, I won’t disrespect Bruce by simply re-hashing his words – linked above – but in the last couple of years it was clear to me that Laurent was positioning himself to retire – and sooner rather than later, so 60 could have been the number – and his son Clément could ‘do what he wants with the domaine afterwards – the decisions will be his.’ Yet it seems that things can change very quickly in Burgundy. As far as I know there are no other winemakers in the family, i.e. the families of Laurent’s three sisters, so a sale seems the only option. And will the sisters have any legal right to challenge Laurent taking away with him the metayage contracts of Chambertin, Clos St.Denis, Griotte-Chambertin and Chambolle-Charmes? – Bruce indicates that Laurent will do so – despite that they have been integral to the domaine since 1982…

Regardless, it looks like a good pay-day for one, and for all, yet it will be such a shame. Domaine Ponsot – if it keeps that name, and how could it? (- with 20% ownership remaining with the family? ;-)) – will never have the same cachet without a charismatic Ponsot at the helm. Neither Laurent nor his father Jean-Marie could be the easiest of people, but they certainly both had charisma!

Still, I’m looking forward to tasting his 2016s – the lines between the domaine and négoce wines were always rather blurred here…

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the return of musigny blanc

By billn on March 02, 2017 #the market

We were alerted to this by a comment on these pages over a week ago – I asked for info from the domaine – the response came back today:

“Indeed, 2015 sees the comeback from the great Musigny Blanc after a lengthy period. This should satisfy our loyal customers and white wine aficionados who have behaved bravely during these last 20 years and remained so patient!”
Jean-Luc Pepin, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé

And also today the news hit the streets here.

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hong kong drinks it in…

By billn on February 28, 2017 #the market#warning - opinion!

Here.

“Hong Kong is now Burgundy’s fifth biggest market in terms of revenue and the 13th largest in terms of volume”

i.e. its not really the cheap stuff that they are buying!

Hong Kong is, it seems, doing a great job of mopping up top production from the Côte d’Or. It’s a relatively new market that has been less sensitive to price (probably because they largely never bought at 25% of the current pricing!) than more traditional markets. The open question, is whether they will still buy in less star-studded vintages(?) But for now, the producers and merchants make hay while the sun shines…

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enforcing the status quo?

By billn on February 27, 2017 #beaujolais#the market#warning - opinion!

Interesting.

I would say that here it is the ‘revitalising the region‘ comment that is up for interpretation – at least if we look at at past actions. Louis Latour, and I have to say Drouhin too, seem to approach the Beaujolais region purely as a source of ‘entry level wines.‘ Which (perhaps simplistically) could be viewed as trying to enforce the current status quo of the market. I would contrast that with the work of Bouchard Père at Château Poncié, or rather more successful, the work of Louis Jadot at Château des Jacques.

Beaujolais is only going to reap some reward for its action (where deserved) if those people who are deserving can monetise their efforts. Like Jadot, Lafarge-Vial and Thibault Liger-Belair are ‘externals’ who are successfully monetising good work, but for as long as major producers label a region only as the ‘entry level’ then that makes life difficult for all producers of a region, regardless of the quality that they can deliver.

Note: I was the very first writer to taste Louis Latour’s Pierre Dorée wine when bottled – last summer when visiting and profiling their Henry Fessy domaine/négoce/wines – and very good it is too. Here I only comment on my perception of the actual positioning of wine from Beaujolais by certain Burgundian ‘majors.’

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