Bordeaux Burgundy duo wine tour

photo Alain Doire

The Ultimate France Wine Tour

Take advantage of the new Eastern Airways air link between Bordeaux and Burgundy and discover two of the world’s most illustrious wine regions. Compare and contrast the finesse of Paulliac and Pomerol wines with the complexity of Romanée Contée and Aloxe-Corton. In this two régions tour you will uncover the secrets of the wines of each area. Luxurious first class accommodation, professional, courteous chauffeurs, knowledgeable guides, everything you need for this ultimate French wine tour.

photo Alain Doire

Your home in Burgundy will be the centrally located Le Cep hotel in the center of Beaune. Don’t miss diner at Loiseau des Vignes with the opportunity to taste wines by the glass thanks to  their eneumatic machine.You will visit several small growers in different areas and have the opportunity to learn why the wines are so astoundingly different.

You will have the opportunity to have lunch at a local growers with a special tasting menu. The sommelier will personally explain the wines and the notion of climats.

Return to Bordeaux to compare the wines of  Margaux, Pauillac, Pomerol, Saint Emilion and even contrast with the Sauternes region and Chateau Yquem.  A visit of at least two days of the more “Bordeaux” style chateaus is a minimum. You will be in awe of the underground cellars of Saint Emilion!

If you are looking for a well rounded French wine tour this spring or summer this is your best choice.

Give us your dates and we organize the rest for you.  We do not offer group tours and specialize in private made to measure tours just how you want them.

CLICK HERE for more information and quotes.

New Bordeaux 2011 Harvest Wine Tour

Harvest can only be experienced amongst the vineyards.  To smell the ripe fruit, experience the camaraderie, feel the excitement of the yearlong labor coming to fruition.  From Sept to Oct you will have the opportunity to participate in this yearly ritual.  The cellar masters and vineyard managers of some of Bordeaux premier chateau will guide you through the techniques and tactics for making a superlative wine.

Rarely do we get the chance to actually pick the grapes and participate in the harvest of world class wineries.  Decanter Tours has designed a tour revolving around several full days of harvest workshops for your own personalized harvest education. In the cellars you will learn how the wine is made, in the vineyard you will pick the ripest bunches and put your mark on the wines of Bordeaux.

What fun to participate in the harvest with the teams of the top chateau in Bordeaux.  You will learn how to select the ripest and healthiest bunches, you will follow the grapes from the vineyard to the cellar all along following their journey until they make it into the vats.  Maceration techniques, extraction, pumping over or punching down, each cellar master has his own techniques and his own recipe.  If you would like to participate in this years harvest contact us for your quote.

Learn from the great wine makers of Bordeaux – Participate in the Bordeaux harvest 2011.

2010 futures as described by Jeff Leve

Should consumers buy 2010 futures?  by Jeff Leve

Will US buyers be back to invest in 2010 Bordeaux futures?

US wine writer, and publisher of The Wine Cellar Insider.com Jeff Leve (1) explains how America’s love affair with Bordeaux has changed over the last decade. Photo:Jeff Leve

Bordeaux and the American market have an interesting, complicated relationship. From 1982 to 2005, American consumers had an insatiable appetite for Bordeaux. We bought the biggest names from all the top vintages. After 2005 the game changed.

Bordeaux has maintained a love-hate relationship with the American market because America is the world’s most vintage centric, wine buying country. With in-demand years, America has been at the front of the line to buy. When the lighter years were for sale, America conspicuously fell to the back of the line. Our insistence on buying only the best years has been called a problem. But is it? That fostered the continuing escalation of high prices. After 1982, Bordeaux realized if America was willing to pay more for the best years, why not charge more?

The pattern of doubling prices in vintages like 1982, 1989, 1995 and 2000 was matched by minor increases in years like 1985, 1988, 1990, 1996 and 2003. Vintages with less demand, like 2001 and 2004, were discounted. That changed with the 2005. Although droves of consumers purchased the vintage, what happened next altered how some American consumers viewed Bordeaux wine.

With bulging cellars and a weakening currency, America took a breather. 2006 offered some very good wines, but with ample supplies of 2005 still available, we took a pass. Next up was the restaurant friendly 2007 vintage that was priced like a collectible year. Again we took a pass. By the time 2008 came around, America was in the middle of an economic collapse, and we purchased little 2008. Following the recession, Costco, the largest wine buyer in America, ceased offering Bordeaux futures, and Diageo, the number one Bordeaux importer, stopped selling Bordeaux. Those events put a crimp in the amount of new Bordeaux available to consumers. 2009, with its opulent style, is the quintessential vintage for the American market. Yet little 2009 was purchased by American retailers for the reasons just stated.

Some merchants are seeking to return Bordeaux futures to prominence with consumers. JJ Buckley, one of America’s better known retailers, just instigated a program designed to win back Bordeaux buyers. Shaun Bishop came up with an inventive plan allowing consumers the ability to pay in full for the wines after they have arrived at JJ Buckley. The offer is: customers pay 60% of the cost when placing their order. The balance is due when the wines are ready to ship. In America, this is a right move to win back a huge segment of the market that has been buying wines from other regions for the past few years while neglecting Bordeaux.
With a strong 2009 and 2010 vintage, is it time to return to buying Bordeaux futures?

There are numerous reasons for buying Bordeaux futures: for instance, the ability to order wine in specific bottle sizes ranging from half bottles to Salamanzars (a 9 liter bottle, the equivalent to an entire case of wine), to protect allocations of scarce wines, and, most importantly, to buy wines at the lowest possible price point. Consumers expect and deserve a return on their investment. They take all the risk. Consumers purchase the wine two years before delivery. During those 24 months, a lot can happen. The wine could develop more complexity, or it might not turn out as well as expected. Scores go up and down all the time. The eventual score, offered from Robert Parker, helps set the demand and price. If the score goes down, the price follows, and the consumer is left with the loss. That does not even take into consideration economic issues and currency fluctuations.

To mitigate the risk, Bordeaux futures are supposed to be priced below what the wines will sell for in bottle. When prices rise, everyone wins. When prices remain flat or fall, the consumer loses. Since 1982 (when buying en primeur first became popular), futures have been the best way to buy Bordeaux, provided the vintage was in demand. Not every vintage is worth purchasing as a future. The best vintages for buying en primeur are the hot, in-demand years, like 2010.

2010 is a great vintage with a myriad of wines all Bordeaux lovers should have in their cellar. But not every wine is worth buying as a future. The wine needs to be priced fairly, allowing the consumer a return on their investment. The most reliable indicator for potential return is recent performance. Has the wine moved in price from previous in-demand vintages like 2005 or 2009? If those wines did not increase in value since they were first offered, assuming the Parker score in 2010 is similar, buyers should be wary. If the wine earns a higher score in 2010 than in previous years, or if the wine has a history of rising in price, it’s a candidate to consider buying as a future.
Robert Parker’s scores will not be the sole determinant for prices in the 2010 campaign. There are wine investment funds and the Chinese marketplace to consider. The Chinese market has unlimited potential. The size of the population and the amount of discretionary money is staggering. While that’s lovely music for some chateaux owners, along with negociants holding stock, that has caused supply problems for mature Bordeaux markets. In turn, that shortage triggered price hikes for collectors. Some of those older consumers are not willing to pay current prices for Bordeaux.

Based on conversations with negociants, coupled with what I learned during my time in China, I conclude that current demand remains focused on specific wines. With a few well-known exceptions, those wines are the same labels being sought by wine funds. More importantly, the Asian culture has not lent itself to paying for wines that are not going to be delivered until the wines are in bottle, close to two years after the payment has been made. That remained the case for 2009. It is too early to tell what will happen with 2010.

Eventually China will become a wine buying country. In time, the Chinese will purchase a wide range of wines. Days before the 2010 Bordeaux futures campaign becomes serious, there are differing opinions on the Chinese market. Chateau owners and negociants say China is already prepared to purchase. Collectors and wine merchants not doing business with the Chinese are convinced that’s never going to happen. The truth is probably resting comfortably someplace in the middle, while we wait to see what will happen with the campaign.

by Jeff Leve.

The question of classification

Flying wine educator, Wendy Narby, hosted a group of enthusiasts for an ‘Introduction to Bordeaux’ tasting class.

With the primeur tasting once again upon us, the focus was on the Classified growths of Bordeaux. A pertinent question was raised as to the current relevance a classification of properties in the Medoc that was made in 1855, especially as these properties have the right to buy up surrounding land and that this is immediately transformed from basic appellation to classified growth status

Effectively in 1855 it was the properties of the Medoc appellations that were classified rather than the terroir. It was a market classification based uniquely on a price hierarchy established by the Bordeaux brokers over a period of 150 years. It was never destined to be a definitive document. This means effectively that the properties keep their classification despite any change in landholdings they may make. Obviously this is often open to criticism, especially in the competitive and much more informed market wines sell in today. However the 1855 classification should be considered as an historical document based on the market evaluation at the time. Now, as then, the market is a more accurate reflection of current quality performance – a result of both terroir, winemaking skill. Not forgetting marketing – again then, as now, it was often the larger landholders, often with great trade connections that established notoriety for their brands in the 18th and 19th century that was reflected in the price of the growths.

However the properties cannot do whatever they like with their landholdings. Firstly the land included in any Grand Cru Classé must come from the same appellation.

The real test of these classifications is brought into question every year during the tastings of the primeurs.

The properties do not act in a vacuum but are subject to market pressure following the tastings. This can clearly be seen with some examples of properties that perform well above, and occasionally below, their 1855 status and are judged by the trade, their market price is a reflection of this: For example the ‘Super seconds’ properties deemed as performing above their status. Château Palmer, classified as a 3rd growth in 1855 is systematically sold at a price point right behind the 1st growths, Château Lynch Bages is a 5th growth with a price point of 2nd growths. Another example is Château Lascombes, a 2nd growth of Margaux that underperformed for many years, but sold their wines at a very affordable price point, since they have been taken over in 2001 the market agrees that the wines have dramatically increased in quality and are now at a similar quality level as other second growths, as is reflected by the increased price on the market.

Also interesting to note is that the properties that have increased in size have also increased their production of second and even third wines, Latour is an excellent example of this; Château Latour 1er Grand cru Classé is only produced from the Enclos, the traditional property whereas the Les Forts de Latour and the ‘Pauillac’ of Latour come from land outside the original holding, more recently purchased by the estate. This however this blend of land holdings for the different wines is not an obligation but entirely on the initiative of the producer to self regulate, based on the plot selection of each vintage.

The primeur tastings start for the trade here in Bordeaux next week and will generate the usual mix of praise for the quality (2010 is once again looking like a great vintage) and criticism for the prices and of course painting all of Bordeaux with the same brush forgetting that, as fabulous as these growths are, as important as their role is for the notoriety of Bordeaux they represent les than 2% of total Bordeaux wine production, in volume.

The 1855 classification remains one of the best marketing operations in the history of wine making as these properties remain to this day some of the best known wines in the world, but as with most things in the wine world, memorising the classification is not enough to really understand the quality hierarchy of Bordeaux. You rally have to come here, see the lay of the land, get in the cellars, meet the winemakers and of course, taste the wines so you can make your own decisions as to whether this historical classification is still relevant for you today.

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