Bordeaux’s share of market value has been steadily declining since its peak in 2010, from 95% eight years ago, to just over 60% today. However, despite a broadening wine market – with increasing interest in Burgundy and US wines, for example – demand for claret “is still very robust”, according to thedrinksbusiness.
The title reports that while En Primeur sales have been poor for a number of years, with 2017’s campaign cited as one of the worst since the nadir of 2013, wines that were considered overpriced on release comparatively recently have often dipped in price in the interim before becoming physical, which has in-turn created a relatively thriving buyers’ market for these labels.
Wine merchant, BI, for example, says its First Growth sales have increased for three consecutive years, and its total Bordeaux sales in 2017 came to just under £55 million. More than 50% of that figure came from physical sales of First Growths.
BI managing director Gary Boom said: “In our business, the First Growth market is going from strength to strength. The stellar quality of recent vintages allied to the decreasing availability of the great vintages of the past has created fresh demand for these most revered of wines.”
As such, thedrinksbusiness reports, Bordeaux “continues to hold its own” despite its loosening grip on the market.
