Since we’re on the subject of the French savoir vivre this morning: 2008 was supposed to have been a dreadful year for claret.
So much so that a not inconsiderable number of mechants shied away from the recent 2008 Bordeaux tastings altogether. That, married to a generalised sense of ennui to do with anything en primeur (which had produced overinflated prices for a disappointing 2007 vintage) and of course, the wider financial meltdown, meant that most were anticipating a significant dip in fine wine prices.
The Liv-ex index of fine-wine prices tracks such things:
But, as Monday’s FT reported…
Fear is spreading among the UK’s biggest wine sellers after Robert Parker, the American critic whose ratings have dictated the market in wine futures for 20 years, declared the much-maligned 2008 Bordeaux vintage to be “excellent”.
Regular readers of the FT’s own Jancis Robinson should not be totally surprised. As Robinson wrote a few weeks ago:
…most of the reds are now tasting very well, with enough but not excessive ripeness, nice fresh acidity, and tannins reassuring in quantity and not too abrasive in quality; even at less exalted levels in Pessac-Léognan, my initial exposure to the vintage. In St-Émilion, which has produced more than its fair share of exaggerated wine styles in recent years, the 2008s seemed succulent, energetic, concentrated and only rarely over-extracted.
In next-door Pomerol – which relies on the Merlot grapes that caused so many headaches for Bordeaux vignerons in 2008′s exceptionally extended growing season of 120-125 days – the 2008 success rate was even more striking. The distinctive wines from the Pomerol-dependent J.P. Moueix stable seemed on better form than ever.
Parker’s scores though, were something else: the 2008 Chateau Lafite Rothschile came in, by his reckoning, with a score of 98-100/100. As did the Cheateau Petrus. A clutch of other Pomerols scored 96+.
As to the power of such scores from Parker, here, from Liv-ex, is the price of a crate of 2008 Lafite:
Naturally not everydone is best pleased – or convinced. The Liv-Ex blog notes the Twitter feed of BigSithewineguy – Simon Staples, fine wine director at Berry Bros & Rudd:He went crazy about 2003 (all on his own) He missed 2005 (everyone else loved it) He’s now potty about 08(a few very nice wines)Plot?Lost?Related links:
Les français aiment bien dormir, and other tales from the OECD – FT Alphaville
Difficult for Bordeaux to swallow – Jancis Robinson, FT