A room full of primo uomos and divas (the wines, not the merchants...)

Yes, it is that time of year again when the Bordeaux UGC company rolls into London for a short residency at the Royal Opera House. This year was the turn of the magnificent 2009 vintage, now in bottle*. From barrel the now fabled 2009s seduced us with unerring, sumptuous textures, precision, decadence and dare we say it, sex appeal. Simply, they were like nothing else we had tasted from Bordeaux – so could they live up to our expectations?

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End of year report

How did the fine wine market fare in 2010? And what of the future?

After some strong re-building in 2009, 2010 always had the potential to be a great year for the fine wine market. The Liv-ex 100 index started the year at 239.36 and rose to a new high of 336.28 by the close, an increase of 40.5%. Lafite Rothschild and second wine Carruades de Lafite continue to lead the way. There is no let up in demand from China for wine’s über-brand. Most vintages of Carruades now trade at over 3.5K/cs and the Grand vin prices head ever further into the stratosphere. The other first growths have also seen big gains in 2010. Mouton Rothschild’s decision to commission Xu Lei to design the label for the 2008 had an overnight impact on the demand for all Mouton vintages. And what of the auspicious 2008 vintage? Much was made of the significance of these lucky numbers before the `08 primeur campaign, but buyers from China never materialised. Now that some wines are available, we expect this to change.

One of the outstanding successes in 2010 was of course the release of the 2009s from Bordeaux. Our tasting team travelled to Bordeaux in April and tasted extensively throughout the Medoc, Graves, Pomerol and St Emillion. The vintage is rightly heralded as one of the greats. We witnessed some of the most decadent, hedonistic, enchanting wines we have ever tasted. Release prices, as we had forewarned were very high, but the demand was even greater. As with previous `greats` (2000, 2005), the record release prices didn’t put consumers off. They also had a knock on affect to older vintages, which comparatively looked cheap!

2011 has started with a bang. Our Burgundy 2009 campaign has broken the records set by the 2005s. Over 450 people attended our tasting and demand for the top wines has been typically voracious. And whilst the very top wines have now been snapped up there are still plenty of wonderful wines to be had from Bourgogne to Grand Cru level. Have a look on our website for full availability. 2010 Bordeaux is potentially very exciting too; a small crop, but the quality is excellent, so there is much to look forward to. We don’t have a crystal ball, but it seems likely that the fine wine market, in near term at the very least, will depend on the evolution of the Chinese market. We are already seeing an increase in demand for super seconds and other top Cru Classés. And why not? The gulf between the firsts and the others has never been greater. Those looking for smart drinking are clearly looking beyond the likes of Mouton and Lafite, and who knows, maybe investors will follow...

Sweet success

This short week has been dominated by politics and sweet wines. Most Sauternes and Barsac estates have now released with just a few big names such as Yquem, Climens and de Fargues still to come. This is an exceptional vintage with both quantity and quality. In fact most producers have never witnessed such a straightforward harvest. Rather than the usual headache of multiple trie spaced weeks apart, wine-makers enjoyed a uniform transformation in their vineyards as botrytis spread and concentrated sugars in the grapes. Countless estates told the same story; all grapes harvested in a single week, large yields (comparatively) and exceptional quality. Residual sugar levels are high, but these are balanced, fresh, complex, mineral, really engaging wines that are close in quality to the 2001s.

The star releases include Suduiraut (97-99), Rieussec (95-97) and Coutet (96-98). All scores are taken from The Wine Advocate issue 188. We were also particularly impressed with Doisy Vedrines, which, at £245 per case looks tremendous value.

As with the Left Bank and the Right Bank, we asked our tasting team to list their top five Sauternes/Barsac. Unsurprisingly, Yquem and Climens run out as clear winners, but there were strong showings from Rieussec, Doisy Vedrines, de Fargues and Coutet. Our results can be found below (in order of preference):

Yquem
Climens
Rieussec
Doisy Vedrines
De Fargues
Coutet
Doisy Daene
Suduiraut
Rayne Vigneau

Bordeaux 2009 settles into the starting blocks.

So everyone has now heard about the Bordeaux 2009 vintage. At Justerini & Brooks we have used our new website to augment our traditional approach to commenting on a new vintage with our blogs and video interviews to try and provide our customers with greater insight, and we will continue to release further interviews over the coming days. All the critics have also now published their views, and this week most collectors will have been studying the just-released musings of the American critic Robert Parker. We view his influence, or more specifically his impact, with mixed feelings. However, there is little doubt that, though not without disappointment, it is a vintage which justifies some exceptional claims. Our tasting notes on each of the wines have been uploaded on to the website, and we expect the campaign of releases to begin imminently. We do not, sadly, expect this to be a quick campaign. In fact with the hiatus scheduled for late May to accommodate a VinExpo in Hong Kong, we are presuming many of the top Chateaux will not be releasing their wines until June.

Justerini & Brooks get large allocations of classed growths, and our full buying team will be active throughout the campaign as usual. However, we are expecting demand to exceed supply with certain estates. In the interest of fairness we will continue to operate our allocation process where this becomes the case, which is based on a customer's three year cumulative spend with us. Our intention as always is to reward customer loyalty and those who collect a broader range of wines. We are not an investment club.

As with every vintage, our team of eight spent a week in Bordeaux tasting every wine we will offer. Please contact your account manager to let them know which wines you are interested in, or alternatively e-mail wishlist@justerinis.com . It is imperative that if you do not currently receive our e-mailed offers you also register your e-mail address into the J&B website to ensure you receive our notifications.

Spring has arrived when one hears the first cuckoo. Or if you are a wine lover, when en primeur begins. We have had a long cold winter, and it seems this year Spring is late.

Bordeaux 2009 – More scores

Our second category is `Best of the Left`. Our intrepid tasters were asked to compile a list of their top ten wines from the Medoc and the Grave (excluding the First Growths and La Mission Haut Brion). Competition was fierce; no fewer than 18 wines were utilized, including one or two surprises. The same rules applied, 10 points for first place all the way down to 1 point for tenth position.

Starting at the top, the runaway victor was predictably Leoville Las Cases with a remarkable 79/80. It’s just idle speculation, but I’d wager that if Las Cases had been included within our First Growth category, it would have finished in a Champion’s League spot. Next, and almost as emphatically comes Pontet Canet with 72/80; the wine that prevented Las Cases from recording a perfect 80! Bronze goes to the magnificent Cos and then it all becomes quite congested mid table; just 11 points separate Calon Ségur, Leoville Barton, Palmer, Pichon Lalande, Grand Puy Lacoste and Montrose. It’s also worth noting a particularly strong showing from Haut Marbuzet; a Cru Bourgeois is a sea of Cru Classé.

Leoville Las Cases - 79
Pontet Canet - 72
Cos d'Estournel - 47
Calon Segur - 35
Leoville Barton - 33
Palmer - 28
Pichon Lalande - 27
Grand Puy Lacoste - 25
Montrose - 24
Ducru Beaucaillou - 15
Forts de Latour - 12
Pavillon Rouge - 9
Haut Marbuzet - 7
Malescot St Exupery - 7
Rauzan Segla - 6
Lynch Bages - 6
Pichon Baron - 5
Haut Bailly - 3