Chairman's Message

The start of a new decade and the beginning of our 261st year of trading is perhaps a timely moment to reflect on the state of the fine wine market.

It is unquestionably the case that this time last year we looked towards 2009 through an uncertain lens. The previous six months had proven to be tumultuous and there was no strong indication of how the market would proceed.

Our deep rooted belief in the merits of quality domaine bottled Burgundy was again shown to be shared by our customers, as was seen by the strength of the Burgundy 07 Primeur campaign launched last January.

The broking market also seemed to find its footing that month; we sold more Bordeaux in the first week of January than we did in the whole preceding month of December.

The general fine wine market continued to cautiously grow over the following months, and we were pleased to note that Justerini & Brooks grew market share, with sizeable and active private customers as well as top hotels and restaurants coming to us, driven perhaps by stability and our depth of stock.

It is also worth noting our customers' increasing interest in wines outside the classic French regions. We are seeing continued interest in top Spanish wines and in German Riesling, but it is in top Piemontese wines that we have seen the most dramatic rise. Despite 2008 being a record year for us in terms of Italian sales, this grew further through 2009.

Early 2010 will see us launch our new website; both the culmination of a two year project and an effective way to take Justerini & Brooks to even more like-minded customers. We are already operating in 23 countries.

Many of you have already discovered our Buyers' blog. My buying team are now using this to give you day by day reports as they taste new wines and new vintages in their continuous search for the best.

And there is good news for customers who store their wines with us through Cellarers (Wines) Ltd. The current storage rate of £11 per year inclusive of vat for a case will remain frozen come the start of the next storage year (1st July 2010), despite the rising costs of warehousing and insurance. However, delivery charges to mainland Great Britain will rise from £15 inclusive of vat to £15 exclusive of vat - a modest increase to cover costs. Purchases destined for mainland Great Britain not coming from Cellarers and over the value of £250 will continue to be exempt of delivery charge. Deliveries elsewhere will continue to be charged at the prevailing rate.

There is much for us to look forward to over the coming 12 months. We are genuinely impressed by the quality of the 2008 Burgundies which we are about to launch . The rest of the coming year will be taken up with the release of the 2009 vintage from Bordeaux, Germany and the Rhone, and exciting releases from Champagne, Italy and Spain. To date I have tasted several superb 2009 Rhones, and a couple of days ago, whilst in a very snowy Bordeaux, I tasted a barrel sample of Cos d'Estournel 2009 which was deeply impressive. The style of 2009, if anything can be drawn from such a small selection, is deep concentration and texture combined with a fabulous fruit content. Alcohols are high, but certainly from the wines I have tasted they are exquisitely balanced by acidity. Our Buyers' blog will update you with our discoveries as they come.

In the meantime I wish you all a very happy New Year.

Hew Blair

Chairman, Justerini & Brooks