It’s been a slow news month for Bordeaux-related articles as the region gears up for En Primeur week, April 22-25, 2024. There’s a lot of discussion in professional circles about what may be significantly lower prices for the new vintage, so keep your eye on futures releases. In the meantime, here are a few things that came across my desk this month.
Best Grapes for Drought: As climate change and unstable weather patterns become more critical in winemaking, a team of French scientists with the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment and the Univ. of Bordeaux have released a study looking at what grapes may be most vulnerable in drought conditions. The results seem a little surprising – Merlot and Cabernet ranked highly as did Pinot Noir which I think of as a more delicate grape. Interesting report from Winebusiness.com
The Etiquette of Tipping: Lettie Teague in the WSJ has an analysis about wine tipping etiquette – specifically, whether you should tip on tax. These days, servers and restaurateurs need all they can get, but we all get frustrated at how these extra percentages can drive up the bill. So, it’s no surprise the rules can get murky.
Best Values for En Primeur: Speaking of En Primeur, Vinovest has a guide to this year’s wines and a primer on investing. It’s a good primer on getting started investing in wine – and their thoughts on the 2024 vintage and best producers.
On the Other Hand: In a Drinks Business Podcast, Bordeaux expert Colin Hay urges caution for the Bordeaux chateaux as they price with year’s Bordeaux. He explains the complexities of pricing, interest rates, inventories, and the role negotiants play. Great insight into the business of wine.
Mouton-Cadet and the Future of Bordeaux: Everyone is talking about the French wine “crisis” – a combination of oversupply, rising costs, and a wine drinking market segment that’s worrying. At last month’s Wine Paris, Mouton-Cadet was awarded a Fair for Life certification which gave their wine director and others a chance to speak out about the upcoming challenges facing Bordeaux. Branded director for Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Véronique Hombroekx, has extensive comments worth a read that sum up the very serious problems and some of what they’re seeing as a result. From the article in Drinks Business:
“Consequently, she said that such as “crisis” means that there is less incentive to make wine of quality. Indeed, she said that a demotivating oversupply situation was something that “we need to stop”.
Then she asked, “Do we have the solution? I don’t know, but at least we are trying something; yes this is a little light in the dark, and I hope it will inspire others.”
Continuing, she said “We also need to listen to the consumer, they don’t want complex wine anymore, they want to be seduced by the wine, and we need to understand what they are looking for, which is something rounder, fruitier with softer tannins, and this is what we need to give them. Some are saying ‘this is not Bordeaux’… but we should give them what they want…. We should be tolerant… We need to have a future, and there is no one size fits all, but there can be good initiatives to save Bordeaux; I am very optimistic.”
Another solution: Winemakers collective Viticulture 33 thinks the solution to the challenges in Bordeaux can be addressed by changing some of the designated appellations – namely dividing some Bordeaux vineyards into the Aoc Cru Bordeaux and Igp Bordeaux Atlantique. There’s more to it, but their plan still doesn’t address the overproduction issues – it just gives those wines a new name.
Using AI to Combat Counterfeiting: And in news we can all use, a University of Geneva team has come up with a new technique to pinpoint the chemical makeup of a large number of wines from major Chateau with 100 percent accuracy. Decanter has more on this potentially groundbreaking technology when it comes to authenticating wines.
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