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21/05/2019

Bordeaux En Primeur 2018: Drip Drip Drip

by Giles Cooper (Head of Marketing & PR)
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The Vinexpo festival in Bordeaux has been and gone and yet we are still waiting for many of the biggest names to release their 2018s. Whether we will see any this week is unknown – and with the UK bank holiday on Monday next, followed by the Ascension Day holiday in France Thursday next (with the likely ‘pont’ day on Friday) it could be week commencing 3rd June before we start seeing real action. And then, it could all be pretty rapid.

What we have seen is a few releases over the past few days. Almost all of these are at, or occasionally above, the top of our spreads.

The highly-rated Pomerol Clos l’Eglise (94-96 LPB “it offers layer upon layer of voluptuous fruit, finishing long and spicy.”) is available at GBP 779.

Another BI favourite is La Gaffeliere (94-97 AG “once again one of the finest and most pedigreed wines in Saint-Émilion and all of Bordeaux for that matter.”) and the price of GBP 618, whilst above the top of our spread, looks quite good in comparison to its geographical and qualitative neighbours. The estate is investing heavily and this is no mere ‘repositioning’; the quality shows in the bottle and has been noticeably improving for the past 5 years.

Yesterday we saw Rouget, highly rated by James Suckling (96-97), released at GBP 420. A very good price for a bona fide Pomerol.

Today we have seen the fine St Julien Lagrange (93-95+ LPB “has a solid frame of firm, chunky tannins and just enough freshness, finishing on a persistent mineral note.”) released at GBP 419.

In addition we have three of the top wines from the Gerard Perse stable (Pavie) in the form of Pavie Decesse at GBP 1085, Bellevue Mondotte at GBP 1230 and Aromes de Pavie at GBP 870. Each of these are hugely impressive in their usual style – if you like it, you’ll like them, very much we suspect.

Other releases:

Chasse Spleen – GBP 294

Gracia – GBP 718

La Tour Martillac – GBP 305

La Tour Martillac Blanc – GBP 276

Monbousquet – GBP 449

Monbousquet Blanc – GBP 465