Robert Parker has released his in-bottle scores for 2008, the vintage that he previoulsy loved but that other critics weren’t as positive about. The result is quite extraordinary: the vintage as a whole is downgraded by a massive 1.18 point.

Issue #194, which also covers Parker’s scores for the Bordeaux 2010 En Primeur wines, has had a bit of an impact. The 2010 vintage receives massive scores (we will cover those next week) whereas – with more of an immediate impact – Parker downgrades 2008. In the last 9 years, only 3 vintages have seen lower in-bottle scores than barrel-scores, the other 2 being 2002 (-0.83) and 2007 (-0.06). So 2008 by far sees the largest downward revision. Having previously ranked above 2006 and 2003 and only marginally lower than 2005, the result of the downgrade is that 2008 now ranks below all 3 vintages with an average score of only 94.40

Overall, the majority of the scores fall at the lower end of Parker's initial barrel score spreads whilst there are quite a few scores that are even lower than that. On individual wine level, some of his scores are quite remarkable. Let’s start with the First Growths:

There are only 10 wines that score 96 points or more, 98 being the highest. Please see below for all wines receiving 95 or more:

Note that this list of 27 wines does not include Mouton or Margaux...

The biggest "losers" are the wines that have fallen outside of their initial, barrel spread:

Pichon Lalande, Le Pin, Cos Estournel, Leoville Lascases and Cheval Blanc receive the biggest downgrade.

However, it is not all carnage. There are also wines that do better. Below is a list of the winners that receive 95 or more points: 

The effect on the trade and on prices so far has been modest. Whilst Mouton Rothschild is being off-loaded by some, we will have to wait and see what the longer term effect on pricing will be. If anything, it will make some of the back vintages look good, in particular 2006. We have covered the "back-vintage" investment strategy before and will continue to do so during the 2010 En Primeur campaign. 

At the moment though, most attention seems to be for the winners of 2008. In particular Ducru Beaucaillou (despite it’s downgrade still a monster score), Pichon Baron (which has also received a fantastic score for the 2010 and at £800 a case, the 2008 looks to be an excellent opportunity) and Pontet Canet.

Pontet Canet is the darling of everybody it seems. Critics, the trade, investors and drinkers alike, they all love Pontet Canet. No surprise really given the scores for the last 3 vintages. It outscores 1st Growths at a fraction of the price. The 2008 at £915 seems an utter bargain. The story behind the wine is equally compelling.