First 2008 Bordeaux Comes In Low

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 8th 2009 at 9:01AM

The first price on a 2008 vintage Bordeaux has been released and as predicted, it's much cheaper than the 2007. Decanter reports that Chateau Angelus, one of the top wines of St Emilion will sell at 50 euros a bottle which is 40 percent lower than last year's price for the 2007. The announcement comes weeks ahead of schedule. The price is the same as the 2004 vintage which Hubert de Bouard has said is the 'natural' en primeur price.

The new price means that buyers may be getting a better vintage for less money than last year's offering, a fact that doesn't sit well with many in the industry. De Bouard says that linking one vintage with another isn't a great idea and feels he is doing what is necessary to attract customers. But he's also being fairly cautious. As Bordeaux Wine News mentions, he's only making 50 percent of his 2008 production available for sale on the futures market as opposed to putting up nearly all of it as he has done in the past few years. The wines are still undergoing aging and won't be delivered to buyers until 2010. Should the economic climate have changed by then, he's still got half his stock to bargain with.