The Damocles Sword? Will there be any Bordeaux Primeurs 2008?

Not sure about the English equivalent, but in Swedish you say that one should not swear in church. Perhaps the alternative is, one does not use screw cap in Portugal? That’s similar to what Jean-François Moueix (chateau Pétrus, négociant Duclot) has done, according to a blog post on The New Bordeaux written by the usually well informed Jane Anson. Moueix recently said in an interview with the French magazine Nouvel Observateur that (brace yourself) maybe there wont’ be a primeur campaign, or only a half one, for the 2008s… “The chateaux believe they are victims of the financial crisis, but they have orchestrated the problem (of overly high pricing)... If négociant houses can’t buy or obtain lines of credit for their allocations, the wine will remain at the chateaux. And if there are not enough takers of allocations, there won’t be any en primeur sales.” It will be interesting to see what happens next spring. At the same time we cant really feel much pity for the chateaux who worry (they’ve sold well, at very high prices, in recent times; and perhaps it’s time for an overhaul of the whole somewhat antiquated way of going to market in Bordeaux?), nor for the buyers who complain that Bordeaux wine is too expensive. If the price is not right there are plenty of other just as excellent wines out there looking for buyers. Perhaps time to decamp and discover alternatives if the price is not right?

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