Given the shorter working week, trade by both value and volume unsurprisingly declined in the last seven days. Bordeaux’s share of trade by value lifted slightly, to 65.8%, yet First Growth trade share fell to 15.5%- the lowest it has been at any point in 2017.
It was not only activity that fell this week for the First Growths. The Liv-ex 50 was down for the third consecutive week, off 0.1% on last Thursday’s close. Of the wines comprising the index, Haut Brion 2010 has been the biggest faller. Its mid-price is currently 6.7% lower than the start of April.
Trade for Burgundy increased, thanks to an uptick in trading of the region’s white wines. For the second week in a row, ‘Other’ regions accounted for a significant portion of trade by value, with the USA and Spain contributing 5.7% and 2.6% respectively.
Even though Bordeaux’s trade by value remains historically low, red wines from the region continue to populate the top of the trade by value table; the exception being Screaming Eagle 2014, which is in the top five for the second week in a row.
Bordeaux 2016 Update
Neal Martin revealed his scores for Bordeaux 2016 last Friday. On average the vintage was scored 94.7, higher than 2015 but lower than 2009 and 2010. When comparing Martin’s scores with the average of other key critics, few significant discrepancies are revealed. The table below summarises the five greatest differences.
In terms of major releases this week, on Wednesday Armailhac came out at £390 per 12×75, while on Thursday Suduiraut was released to the market at £545 per 12×75. Batailley closed proceedings, coming out earlier today at £414 per case. These came among several petit chateaux releases, many of which were well received by the market, such as Labégorce.
The potential impact of last week’s frosts in Bordeaux on this year’s En Primeur campaign continues to be debated. Jane Anson considered the impact in article for Decanter, while Gavin Quinney has examined the damage by appellation. As more releases take place, the market will start to have a clearer idea of whether or not the Bordelais are choosing to withhold stock or increase prices, or perhaps, pursue both options.
