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29 April 2013

Robert Parker Jr releases his report on Bordeaux 2012 with Pomerol on top

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Posted in: Wine Market News

Tagged: Bordeaux En Primeur

Parker’s description of the 2012 vintage as ‘not great’ rings true in direct comparison to the recent back to back iconic vintages 2009 & 2010, but his ratings clearly acknowledge the fact that some very good wines were produced in 2012.

Pomerol was the clear winner with the only potential perfect wine of the vintage, Chateau L'Eglise Clinet (96-100pts) topping the scores closely followed by another two wines from the Right Bank commune Chateau Trotanoy (96-98pts) & Petrus (95-98+pts),  Pessac-Leognan & St Emilion also produced some excellent wines, with the top St-Emilion’s scoring very well & according to Parker offering wines that are ‘not far off the mark of 2010 and 2009’- quite the accolade. Pavie (94-96+pts) & Angelus (94-96pts) released their wines ahead of the Parker scores last week, offering the inaugural vintages to have Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé (A) on their bottles at an increase on 2011 pricing, which was poorly received. Will the high scores ensure these wines find a market?

The Right bank dominated the top list of wines, leaving Mouton Rothschild (95-97pts) a forlorn figure as the only Left Bank wine in the top 20 rated by Parker. At under £3,000 per 12 the best scored First Growth 2012 looks a great buy, particularly encouraging as Parker proclaims this effort as ‘one of the few 2012s that comes close to equalling what was achieved in both 2009 and 2010’.

Lafite Rothschild (92-95pts) also scored well comparing the newest vintage to the 1998 which currently trades upwards of £6,000 per 12 ,  other strong Left Bank performers were : Haut Brion (93-95pts), Latour and Margaux (both 92-94) & Chateau Rauzan-Segla (93-95pts).

The futures market for Bordeaux is undoubtedly ‘at a crossroads’ (RPJ) especially after prices failed to come down for the below average 2011 campaign. Parker has once again called for prices to drop and paid recognition to Christian Moueix, who released his 2012 stable of wines at a 20% discount on 2011. Credit must also go to Mouton & Lafite who came down substantially on 2011 pricing and have subsequently found an active market.

Now that all the scores are out, we are expecting a busy week of releases so please make sure to register your interest in order to ensure you receive an allocation of the unreleased wines.

Below is the list of the top rated 2012s.

2012 Haut Brion Blanc (98-100)
2012 La Mission Haut Brion Blanc (96-98+)
2012 L'Eglise Clinet (96-100)
2012 Trotanoy (96-98)
2012 Ausone (95-97)
2012 Mouton-Rothschild (95-97)
2012 Pape Clement Blanc (95-98)
2012 Petrus (95-98+)
2012 Angelus (94-96)
2012 Bellevue Mondotte (94-97)
2012 Cheval Blanc (94-96)
2012 Hosanna (94-96)
2012 La Fleur Petrus (94-96)
2012 La Mondotte (94-97)
2012 Pavie (94-96+)
2012 Chateau Troplong Mondot (94-96)
2012 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse (93-95+)
2012 Belair-Monange (93-95)
2012 Climens (93-95)
2012 Clos Fourtet (93-95)
2012 Croix de Labrie (93-95)
2012 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc (93-95)
2012 Feytit Clinet (93-95)
2012 Chateau Gazin (93-95)
2012 Gracia (93-95+)
2012 Haut Brion (93-95)
2012 Larcis-Ducasse (93-95)
2012 Chateau Le Pin (93-95)
2012 Leoville Las Cases (93-95)
2012 Rauzan-Segla (Rausan-Segla) (93-95)
2012 Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc (93-95)
2012 Beau-Sejour-Becot (92-95)
2012 Branon (92-94)
2012 Canon la Gaffeliere (92-94)
2012 Chateau Louis (92-94)
2012 Chateau Margaux (92-94)
2012 Chateau Clinet (92-94+)
2012 Clos de Sarpe (92-94+)
2012 Clos Dubreuil (92-94)
2012 Clos St Julien (92-94)
2012 Cos d'Estournel (92-95)
2012 De Fieuzal Blanc (92-94)
2012 Domaine de Chevalier (92-95)
2012 Fleur Cardinale (92-95)
2012 La Clarte de Haut Brion Blanc (92-94)
2012 Chateau La Conseillante (92-94)
2012 La Fleur de Bouard Le Plus (92-94)
2012 La Fleur Morange (92-94+)
2012 Lafite-Rothschild (92-95)
2012 Lafleur (92-94+)
2012 Latour (92-94)
2012 Le Dome (92-94)
2012 Magrez Fombrauge (92-94)
2012 Montrose (92-94)
2012 Palmer (92-95)
2012 Pape Clement (92-95)
2012 Pavie-Decesse (92-94)
2012 Pavie-Macquin (92-95)
2012 Smith-Haut-Lafitte (92-94)
2012 Vieux Chateau Certan (92-94)
2012 Vieux Chateau Mazerat (92-94)
2012 Aile d'Argent Blanc (91-93)
2012 Bellevue (91-93+)
2012 Canon (91-94)
2012 Chapelle d'Ausone (91-93)
2012 Chateau Saint-Pierre (91-93)
2012 Clos du Marquis (91-93)
2012 Clos l'Eglise (91-94)
2012 Cos d'Estournel Blanc (91-93)
2012 Haut Bailly (91-93)
2012 La Confession (91-93)
2012 La Croix St Georges (91-93)
2012 La Fleur de Bouard (91-93)
2012 La Fleur de Gay (91-94)
2012 La Gaffeliere (91-93)
2012 La Mission Haut Brion (91-94)
2012 La Violette (91-93)
2012 Le Gay (91-93+)
2012 Les Asteries (91-93)
2012 Malartic-Lagraviere (91-93)
2012 Malartic-Lagraviere Blanc (91-94)
2012 Monbousquet Blanc 91
2012 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux Blanc (91-93)
2012 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (91-93)
2012 Pontet-Canet (91-94)
2012 Le Petit Mouton (90-92)
2012 Leoville Barton (90-92)
2012 Les Cruzelles (90-92)
2012 Chateau L'Evangile (90-94)
2012 Pichon-Longueville Baron (90-93)
2012 Chateau Beychevelle (89-91)
2012 D'Armailhac (89-91)
2012 Les Forts de Latour (89-91)
2012 Alter Ego (88-90)
2012 Chateau Duhart-Milon Rothschild (87-89)
2012 Goulee (87-90)
2012 Carruades de Lafite (87-89)
2012 Lynch Bages (87-89)
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