Vins blancs
PULIGNY-MONTRACHET Les Combettes 75cl 69.00 Swiss francs (2008-69.00, 2007-78.00)
MEURSAULT Perrières 75cl 98.00 (98.00, 109.00)
CORTON CHARLEMAGNE 75cl 109.50 (109.50, 128.00)
CHEVALIER-MONTRACHET 75cl 199.00 (198.00, 219.00)
MONTRACHET 75cl 389.00 (388.00, 399.00)

Vins rouges
CLOS DE VOUGEOT 75cl 109.00 (99.00, 109.00)
CHAMBERTIN 75cl 169.00 (149.00, 159.00)
ECHEZEAUX 75cl 169.00, (158.00, 169.00)
MUSIGNY 75cl 229.00 (199.00, 218.00)

Steady as she goes for whites, reds mainly back to 2007 pricing after a dip in 2008. Nothing to tempt me today…

Last year I listed a few merchant offers that the merchants themselves paid for – not much, just the equivalent of a bottle of premier cru – I haven’t done it this year, simply because the wines are selling (have sold!) so fast. One year later the same amount of cash that bought that bottle of 1er cru, for a certain sector of producers, might only pay for a bottle of villages wine! Times change, but for a certain segment of producers prices have doubled since only the 2005 vintage and a majority of that increase came since the 2008 offer; the £100 premier cru is becoming common-place.

Let’s be open: Bachelet, Cathiard and Fourrier are the ones pulling in the extra £££s this year – and putting daylight between themselves and people like Arnoux, Grivot and Ponsot. But don’t fret about the increase, while you’ve been scratching your head looking at the offers, the wines have already sold out – okay perhaps the merchant will do you a favour and find a few bottles of villages wine for you! It’s a measure of the demand for 2009s that so many people can so easily put to the back of their mind that they are paying double, yet still be ‘thankful’ that the merchant honoured them with the opportunity to ‘be allowed to’ purchase 2 bottles! Given the potential quality of the red 2010s (at least based on the raw materials) it certainly won’t be easier next year. One cheeky chappie told me that some merchants were posing as private buyers to augment their own stocks, but with a view to shifting the wines to Hong Kong…

Three quirks of this EP offer: everyone has identical prices for Bonneau du Martray and Domaine Leflaive – what a coincidence 😉 – this is the first vintage where the £400+ case of Nuits 1er cru is commonplace – and the insidious arrival of the 3-bottle case price. Okay the latter has been a feature of DRC offers for the last few years, but I had to laugh as a former buyer of Fourrier to see the 3-bottle ‘cases’ of Clos St.Jacques and Griotte; I used to like buying many different wines in 3s instead of just a few 12s, but the merchant moved to minimum 6-pack orders so I lost my allocation because it couldn’t increase, now they sell in threes. Clearly the introduction of the three-pack has a very different goal to that of the 6-pack; it is designed with just one aim, to reduce the headline price of the wine, the 6-pack was about flexibility and portability – 12-packs are heavy.

I really don’t need to add anything to what I’ve said in this place about the character or quality of the vintage, but there are clearly some producers in the lists who chose not to make major increases – here there is quite some value if you steer away from the crowds. I suggest buying in the lower tiers of the appellations, but at the top buy some 2008s instead – you’ll save plenty of cash and often have classier wine!

My broad-brush view of the offers is as follows:

Small but perfectly formed: AB Vintners and Private Cellar
Large but still perfectly formed: OW Loeb
Comprehensive with bespoke service (It’ll cost you!): Berry Bros & Rudd