2009 Bordeaux put to the test at spring wine futures market
About 6,000 wine investors are expected in France’s Bordeaux wine region this week for the annual spring wine futures festival, known as En Primeur. 2009 is predicted to be one of the best years ever for Bordeaux wines, and vineyards are hoping that the prospect of a phenomenal vintage will counteract the region’s recent downward sales.
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Besides an exceptional vintage, wine producers are also counting on the growing Chinese market to boost sales this year.
The En Primeur is unique to Bordeaux wines, where professionals from around the world come to taste the “primeurs”, the young wine from the previous year in order to determine it’s potential. Between 70 and 90 per cent of top-end Bordeaux are bought at the En Primeur a year before it is bottled and delivered.
The ratings coming out of the event sets the tone for the whole vintage, and more importantly, sets prices.
This year’s anticipated vintage will draw about as many people as in 2005, the last extraordinary Bordeaux year - good news for producers, who have seen sales fall dramatically during the global economic crisis.
Bordeaux exported 206 million bottles in 2009, 14 per cent less than in 2008, generating 1.29 billion euros, or 23 per cent less revenue, according to figures released last week.
The region’s most stable markets have dropped the most, with the US buying 44 per cent less Bordeaux in 2009, Britain 33 per cent less and Belgium 16 per cent.
Producers are hoping that China will come to the rescue. The country has replaced the US as the region’s top volume market outside of Europe; it imported some 18 million bottles of Bordeaux in 2009, a 97 per cent increase from the year before.
"Bordeaux holds a special place in China," Don St. Pierre Jr., chief executive at ASC Greater China, the largest importer of premium wine in China, told the AFP news agency.
"I do not think there is any region in the world that competes with Bordeaux -- none are viewed to have the same history or pedigree."
According to St. Pierre Jr, most of the Chinese growth has been at the very low end in terms of price, and top-tier Bordeaux may not benefit from the Chinese market. But it will benefit from Hong Kong, which abolished wine taxes in 2008, and has an increasing demand for high-quality French wines.
Bordeaux exports to Hong Kong increased 46 percent in 2009, to 109 million euros, with a 24 percent increase in volume.
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