- Neal Martin’s scores from last autumn’s Southwold Tasting are due for publication soon.
- Château L’Eglise-Clinet was the highest-scorer in the latest appraisal of the 2017 vintage published on jancisrobinson.com.
- Château Figeac has been one of the best-performers over the past year.
Last year’s Southwold Tasting took stock of the largely unloved Bordeaux 2017 vintage. Neal Martin’s delayed scores are due to be published on Vinous before the end of the month.
Tom Parker MW, writing for jancisrobinson.com, published his notes last October. In general, his scores and notes confirmed the widely held view that this is one of the poorer Bordeaux vintages of the last decade.
Nonetheless, he did add that falling prices in the market meant there, ‘are a few bargains to be had if the quality is there’.
Current scores favour the Right Bank
The consensus among the tasters, Neal Martin being one, was that L’Eglise-Clinet was one of the standout wines.
Tom Parker’s scores leaned heavily to the Right Bank (see table below), with Eglise-Clinet, Figeac, Cheval Blanc and Vieux Château Certain all receiving scores of 18 or more.
Martin last scored the 2017 L’Eglise-Clinet in February 2020. He rated it 95-points, commenting on its ‘satin-like texture’ and that it would ‘give 30 years of drinking pleasure’.
Château Figeac (which was also scored 18.5 by Parker), has a score of 94-points from Martin. However, when he last tasted it in 2020, he noted that there was ‘such convincing energy locked in this wine. Great potential’.
The 2017 vintage’s best Right Bank performers
Despite its positive score last autumn, the price of L’Eglise-Clinet did not see a major change. As can be seen in the chart below, the wine has fallen in price since release and its reception at the Southwold tasting did not radically alter its pricing.
Nonetheless, with a market price of £1,680 per 12, it is cheaper than its ex-London price of £2,064 potentially offering an opportunity for buyers.
Figeac, by contrast, has climbed 31% since December 2020 and – as can be seen in the chart below – jumped again in the wake of the October tasting. It has a current Market Price of £1,436 per case.
Many of Figeac’s vintages have been rising over the past year, with many observers anticipating a promotion in this year’s St-Emilion classification.
For all Bordeaux 2017 LIVE opportunities click here.
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 560+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
