We have just finished one of the biggest couple of weeks in the wine world. By we, of course I mean the plethora of critics, buyers and press who descended on Bordeaux for the annual en Primeur tastings. I was invited I hasten to add, as long as I paid for everything myself. Considering the amount of high end Bordeaux I move in a week, I may wait until next year, or the year after. I import direct from Bordeaux, from some smaller vineyards direct, but also from the Negociants ( the ancient family houses who have the privilege to sell the big name wines to the world ). I deal with a number of them, as it is the only way I can gain access to the Lynch Bages type wines. To be fair they are great to deal with it and if I went, they would no doubt speak to me for a few minutes before brushing me aside as soon as the Chinese entered the fray. Before the politically correct rise up in protest, I must tell you that the Chinese are the big buyers of fine wine these days. The English and the Americans have well been left in the ha’penny place. You can imagine where the Irish are in the pecking order.

I should probably explain what en Primeur is. In a nutshell, about 6 months after the harvest, the great and the good congregate in Bordeaux to taste the wines that are happy at sleep in the barrels under some of the most famous chateaux in France. These wines usually need about 2 years before bottling so it could be considered a little strange to taste them at this early stage. Why would the Bordelaise consider such an apparent breaking of the sacred code? Like many of life’s strange decisions, such as excess borrowing against unsustainable capital appreciation, the answer is money. They came upon a great source of revenue to fill the gap when they waited for the wines to mature. They basically sell a portion of the wine at while it is still maturing, but at a ‘better’ price. Here lies the gamble. You are really assuming the wine will appreciate in value between the time you buy it and it is released to market. If it doesn’t, you are basically a free bank for the vineyards. Its appreciation will probably depend on whether the critics called the vintage correctly, i.e. is it as great as they think when it is released to market. To be honest, there is really only one that matters, the über critic himself, American Robert Parker. What he says goes, and if he gives a wine 95 points or more, grab it at the best price you can and treat it as you would early Microsoft stock. That wine’s price is going to rise over time. But, if the whole thing does go belly up, at least you can drink the investment. I imagine a bank share would taste fairly bitter, were you to try and consume it.

My thesis studied all of this and compared these investment wines to stocks, property and the like. I then went on to write a paper on fine wine as an investment class. Feel free to call into the shop to have a look at the 200 page thesis, and I will bore you to within an inch of your life. The one line synopsis is this – yes, fine wine is a great investment, but you need to pick the right wines in the right years. Most will lose you money. The Chinese are now buying up Lafite as it is seen as a luxury brand, along the lines of Prada and as there is only so much made, so prices are rising and fast. I am more interested in buying wines early that you can drink, and it is here that en Primeur is really worth looking at. Some of the smaller vineyards offer great value, as long as you are happy to drink the investment in 10 or 20 years. Another drawback to fine Bordeaux. It really does need time.

They are hailing 2009 as a serious vintage, albeit with very high alcohol content, which is not good in the short term. Memories flood back to 2005. This was hailed as the best vintage since 1961, and as we were in the middle of the boom ( March 2006 ), prices went bananas, and the best wines, and even some of the worst, were pushed out of everyone’s grasp. There is talk of this happening again and a return to those prices for 2009. However, considering the state of the world economy, that will really depend on the Chinese appetite for the wines. Unfortunately, it could force the price up of smaller, drinkable wines and I think that would be a disaster for Bordeaux. They need to learn from the mistakes of 2005 and get real. The only upside to 2005 is that there was still great value to be had in the serious wines of 2004. Demand fell, and prices followed suit, so if you do like the bigger names in Bordeaux, wines, look out for 2004 as it is a really good drinking vintage and prices are proper.

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“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”