2010 Bordeaux no-brainer remainders

08/07/11

The chateaux are closing their books on the latest incarnation of France's other Grande Boucle. A lucky few have seen their status elevated, their celebrity enhanced. They were given a rapturous reception as they emerged onto the launch ramp. They had the legs, they had the momentum, and they romped home victorious - by natural means only, so it is rumoured. At the other end of the field, there were many - for the most part, the usual suspects - who are in the broom wagon. In between, a large field of reliable, consistent and good-value performers simply outshone by the headline-grabbing superstars.

In many ways, it was a game of two halves. Before Vinexpo came the Pyrenees. Huge spikes of releases - over 30 on Wednesday 15 June alone - had the campaign in frenzy. (Or should that be chaos?) The last stage of this first segment culminated with John Kolasa's controversial decision to raise the price of Rauzan-Segla by 40%, followed by disorderly scenes of discounting and recriminations which set the scene for the next battleground. After a week's rest, we hit the Alps. Sentiment had changed. Buyers were no longer willing to accept price rises. It was no longer a sellers' market. Competition between merchants was fiercer than ever. Profit margins were squeezed, a problem exacerbated - for those who hadn't hedged - by our withering currency. The chateaux took the profits - in order to challenge the speculators who've done so well in recent years.

2010, we were told repeatedly in Bordeaux in April, was the vintage where the Chinese were going in big en primeur for the first time. We were told that UK allocations would be squeezed as more stock went direct to the Far East. We don't think it happened. Time and again, we maintained - or even increased - our share of the top wines. Initial offers were sometimes smaller, but in the end we prevailed, and only a handful of wines were unavailable on general offer. Our Bordeaux en primeur stock pages now contain a mixture of wines available to order - shown without quantities - together with those for which we've placed firm orders. The latter include at least a dozen wines which are clear winners in 2010: ones where we normally buy as much as we can; ones we consider no-brainers. Many were victims of those manic days of releases, and we wouldn't normally have stock remaining. /AR

Halves & magnums £10 extra per 9 litre case; other formats on request (till the end of July 2011 only).

View all 2010 Bordeaux en primeur