Ditton Wine Traders’ fine wine blog

We are pretty much there. Except for Lafleur, all big name wines have released and most of them are into their 2nd tranche as well. After a very slow first month, the last 2 have really been full throttle with frantic buying and very few firm selling prices. By now however, we are starting to see the secondary market come to live with – although very little for the first growths – some supply counterbalancing demand and therefore some first proper price indications shaping up. So, time to form an opinion on whether to buy this vintage or not.

First of all, this primeur campaign has been absolutely bonkers. Release prices have surprised everyone, exceeding the highest estimates and then some. Not only are release prices easily higher than any previous vintage, in quite a few cases release prices are actually higher than current prices of previous top vintages like 2000 and 2005. We are truly in uncharted territory here. What's more, the secondary market (where the releases are traded on) has actually digested these stellar prices very well in most cases. For example, Lafite released its 1st tranche ex Negociant at GBP 5,500; it traded the next day in London at GBP 12,000. Latour, Margaux, Duhart Milon, Carruades, Pontet Canet, Lynch Bages to name a few have followed the same pattern. This of course encouraged the Chateaux to release their 2nd tranche at much, much higher prices. Having said that, not all wines are selling well at 2nd tranche prices, some dropping back towards the first tranche release price.

Secondly, allocation was a major issue. In most cases, allocations were halved. In some cases (Latour) it was even down to 20% of 2008. I hate to say it, but the Chateaux have really decided to milk this one: high prices, little stock, big demand, huge 2nd tranche prices with still little stock released and the money piles in. Big time. To illustrate the issue of scarcity, most of the major traders in the UK still have not released anywhere decent amounts of First Growths. Big, loyal, private buyers have been offered some, but in insultingly low quantities and at very high markups. Is this because the Merchants don't have the stock as the Chateaux and the Negociants are hoarding their cases? Is it because they do have it but are sitting on it themselves? Probably both.

Thirdly, what has been very apparent in this campaign is that it seems to be all about greed. How to cash in on the biggest vintage ever. I'm aware this is a sweeping generalisation and not true for all. In fact, two of my own Negociants have been very, very correct and have rewarded our loyalty big time. But apart from that, it has been a real spinning game of low stock, hype creation, high prices and fast releases to create a sense of "you have to buy now or else you'll lose out". And that also applies to the UK trade. Not very nice.

Please forgive me my little rant. Personally I like to do business differently: when you have bought from us in the past, you'll get your fair share this year as well, at a normal margin for us. Even if we could sell elsewhere at triple the profit. Because that's how the gentleman's agreement works. And because that's how you build your business for the long term. So yes, some of my customers have bought Lafite at 7,500 pounds – the market being at 12,000. I'm sure they will be back next year.

I firmly believe it's in nobody's interest if prices go up so hard and so quickly. Not for the chateaux, not for the trade, not for investors and certainly not for anybody who's actually going to drink it. Simply because it brings an element of unwanted speculation and volatility into an otherwise perfectly healthy market where the fundamentals are highly supportive of investing in blue chip wine. But there you go, that is what happened and as I said, we are in uncharted territory.

So, what will happen next? Will you have made a good decision buying into this vintage? The honest answer? I don't know. It has been a very bumpy ride and whilst prices were already going up massively, 2009 has broken new ground. There is massive demand for this vintage, even at these prices. Given that they are truly fantastic wines, prices might well be stratospheric a few years down the line and chances are that an investment in the top wines will see a very handsome return, given enough time. It is also very likely that some of the back vintages will go up further as some wines now look decidedly cheap in comparison with their 2009 peers. But as I said, it has been moving up rather too quick for comfort. Time will tell, I'll refrain from a prediction for now.

If you want more hard data on prices and price comparisons, do check out www.liv-ex.com. They have an unrivalled wealth of information and analysis on the 2009 vintage as well as comparisons to back vintages.

To conclude, if you do decide to buy into 2009, chose wisely. There are certainly some very good deals to be had. There are also some very bad ones. This is a vintage where you really have to do your homework. Some wines are trading below their release prices already. Others have increased massively. Still other wines have yet to show their potential. And finally, you really do need to take into account the amount of cases that have been released to date versus the total amount produced to "judge" how stable current prices are.

In the next blogpost I will try and point out some buying opportunities so stay tuned! If you have not already done so, you can subscribe to this blog by RSS feed so that you will be notified by email whenever there's a new posting. As always, I'm very happy to share my thoughts so if you want to know more, do get in touch!