Bordeaux wine estates pushed prices higher as the sales campaign for the 2015 vintage quickened, with Chateau Haut Bailly increased more than 50 per cent and Chateau Cos d’Estournel up more than 40 per cent, according to Liv-ex data.
Haut Bailly, a grand cru classe in Pessac Leognan south of the city, will charge 66 euros ($74) a bottle, an increase of 53 per cent relative to its 2014 wines, according to Liv-ex. Prices increased 42 per cent at Cos d’Estournel in Saint Estephe to 120 euros and 46 per cent at Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron in Pauillac to 96 euros.
The pace of Bordeaux wine-price increases has accelerated, with gains of more than 40 per cent for leading estates comparing with increases averaging about 32 percent the previous week for other classed growths around the region and gains of 19 per cent in late May. Some top estates have still not set prices for their new “en primeur” wines sold while still in the barrel, two months after presenting them in early April tastings.
“With the Bordeaux 2015 campaign now entering its final significant stretch, one trend has been noticeable,” Liv-ex wrote in its market blog. “The increases are increasing.” It said that a prediction back in April by its members that prices would rise 18 per cent on average for 2015 “now seems wildly optimistic for buyers.”
After three difficult vintages in Bordeaux in 2011 to 2013 and a return to a more classic style in 2014, last year’s wines have the potential to be the best since the highly rated 2009 and 2010 harvests. An unusually hot June and July was followed by rain in August that helped the vines, and then sunshine through the harvest allowed grapes to be picked at their ripest.
Producers interviewed in Bordeaux and London have said that 2015 is shaping up to be the highest-quality Bordeaux vintage in at least five years.
Other estates releasing wines in recent days included Chateau Palmer in Margaux, which raised its price by 31 per cent to 210 euros a bottle, Chateau Lynch Bages in Pauillac, which boosted its price by 40 per cent to 84 euros, and Clos Fourtet in Saint Emilion, which raised its price 33 per cent to 67 euros, according to Liv-ex.
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