Astonishingly the 2013 Bordeaux En Primeur Campaign has kicked off early this morning before anyone has had a chance to even taste the wine they are being offered to buy. Chateau Pontet Canet has been released at 60 euros.
Surprisingly this is the same price as the 2012. The market was widely expecting to see significantly lower pricing for the 2013. This, quite simply, is a crazy stunt. How can you buy something and recommend it to your customers when you haven’t tasted it?
Usually the chateaux do push forward a sacrifical lamb to release first so the chateaux owners can test the mood of the market. However this is normally after the tastings have been held!
The 2013 has been a difficult year for Bordeaux and there has been controversy about the potential quality of the wine and also about Robert Parker not tasting the vintage till June. Parker’s tardy tasting has literally thrown a cat amongst the pigeons as his scores can make or break the value of a vintage.
The quantity of wine that Bordeaux has been able to produce for 2013 is dramatically down and it may be that Pontet Canet’s early release has this is mind. Watch out for this being used as a marketing ploy and don’t be fooled. It falls apart as in the space of 10 minutes we were offered the initial allocation which was then upped with the offer of being able to acquire larger amounts!
The 2012 Pontet Canet is available for 69 euros and could be a better wine for the money – we don’t know as we haven’t been given the chance to taste the 2013 yet. The 2012 was scored 91 – 94 points by Parker. Do Pontet Canet expect the 2013 to be scored the same? It’s a bit presumptious.
As you can imagine, the mood of the market is not good on hearing this news. Lets hope the message it sends the chateaux owners is actually listened to before Bordeaux 2013 goes down as the year of the Laughable Vintage.
Is this a wine being sold or is it a brand being sold? If they are selling on the reputation of their brand they may have just devalued it.
