Favourites emerge in Bordeaux 2019 sales

Price cuts and good ratings sparked strong buyer interest in several Bordeaux 2019 en primeur wines, beating low expectations for the campaign in some quarters.

- Chris Mercer

Bordeaux 2019 en primeur arrived amid Covid-19-related disruption to the tasting schedule and fears of a global recession, and against a general backdrop of young Bordeaux wines struggling for price momentum. The usual early-April tastings had to be cancelled, though some smaller-scale tastings were later organised in Paris and other cities in France.

But, with price cuts averaging 21% compared with the 2018 releases, this year’s campaign brought back ‘some of the magic of the past’, said a Liv-ex report. It added that the top 20 UK merchants reported sales revenue down by 10% on average versus last year, but volume sales increased by an average 15%.

‘Châteaux that made the correct [price] reductions sold well and quickly,’ Farr Vintners buyer Thomas Parker MW told Decanter. ‘Lots sold out to pre-orders and we had to go back to Bordeaux and ask for more.’

While other wines didn’t sell so well, Parker said that ‘it has certainly been a success for us, especially when you consider the mood leading up to the campaign’.