From Sigi Hiss
, at 25. April 2012 06:23
by Adam Lechmere – Chateau Lafite Rothschild has released its 2011 at €420 per bottle to the wine trade, a reduction of 30% on last year’s price of €600.
An email from Farr Vintners read, ‘Welcome news on the pricing and let’s hope that other chateaux follow this lead and allow us to sell at a lower price than we sell physical vintages.’
Both they and Berry Bros also said they were pleased there was no ‘tie-in’ with the Rothschild-owned Sauternes Chateau Rieussec, which last year merchants were obliged to buy along with their Lafite allocation. There is now a good deal of uncertainty about how the rest of the blue-chip properties will react to this price.
‘I doubt very much that Mouton, Haut-Brion, Margaux and Cheval Blanc will be able to sell at €350,’ Simon Staples at BBR told Decanter.com. His prediction – with the proviso that this was a very early state of the campaign – was that Lafite’s sister property Mouton-Rothschild, for one, would release a very small tranche at €350 and then price the following tranches according to market reaction.
Lafite’s announcement will also unleash a wave of speculation as to how this year’s most-lauded wines, such as the third-growth Chateau Palmer, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Montrose or Calon-Segur. Palmer was given five stars and 18.5 points by Steven Spurrier for Decanter, the others 18 points, or four stars.
See all Decanter’s Bordeaux 2011 en primeur ratings
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