Quality - so right, supply tight and pricing levels may have reached new heights! We review the Bordeaux 2022 vintage release.
The annual Bordeaux En Primeurs campaign has been a treasured tradition for those in the trade for decades. Avid collectors and investors look forward to the ritual that goes with the big reveal of the new Bordeaux vintage every Spring.
Commercially, the rationale for the chateaux selling allocations of their new vintage in barrel was to secure cashflow. The wines will not be bottled and shipped for two to three years and may not be in the prime of their drinking windows for another thirty, it’s a long time to wait for a return for a vineyard owner.
For that upfront payment, buyers were historically rewarded with purchase prices at a discount to the expected future bottle price. Those days are now long gone, and this has created some tension in the market in recent years. Now, an early ‘en primeur’ purchase may be more about guaranteeing your supply of great wines.>
However, where the price is well considered by a Chateau, there are still opportunities to excite investors.
A classic vintage in the making
The 2022 growing conditions were the most extreme and challenging of this century to date. With our global warming climate this is just a sign of things to come. Vines endured frost, temperatures over 40C, intense downpours, mildew, drought and devastating hail.
This year demanded the greatest skill and hard work in the vineyards, culminating in an early harvest with the majority commencing in August. The region lost 15% of annual average productivity and some wines have not been made as a result.
Quality and Bordeaux 2022
Yield may be lower than average, but quality proved to be above the norm. The region’s illustrious chateaux opened their doors in late April to the world’s top merchants, critics, and trade press for the first tastings of the 2022 wines.
The winemakers knew they had something special, and the critics endorsed that view. Momentum cranked up when the critics’ quality scores were published with a startling number highlighted to have the potential to be perfect. In fact, 2022 is being tipped as a potential ‘vintage of the century’. It’s early days, but the scores are certainly promising.
Which 2022 wines received the most top scores by key critics?
Score | Chateaux | Appellation |
99 - 100 | Leoville Las Cases Cheval Blanc Montrose Lafite Rothschild Le Pin Carmes Haut Brion Pontet Canet Canon Pavillon Blanc Trotanoy | St Estephe St Emilion St Estephe Pauillac Pomerol Pessac Leognan Pauillac St Emilion Margaux Pomerol |
98 - 100 | Latour Mouton Rothschild Pichon Lalande Vieux Chateau Certan Figeac Angelus Troplong Mondot Conseillante | Pauillac Pauillac Pauillac Pomerol St Emilion St Emilion St Emilion Pomerol |
97 - 100 | Petrus Leoville Poyferre | Pomerol St Estephe |
Chateaux Leoville Las Cases and Cheval Blanc, both tipped as ‘wine of the vintage’, received the most scores rating their wines in reach of perfection. The table shows those wines indicating a potential 100 points from the key critics we monitor as having an influence over price performance. And they were in good company with a plethora of very highly scored wines. 2022 has the highest average score across the region by key critics to any other dating back to 2005, excluding the legendary 2009 and 2010.
Is 2022 Bordeaux priced for investors?
The en primeur campaign is ultimately about the sale of this very first tranche of wine released onto the market. The price is set in the primary market by the Chateau, their courtier and the negociant. From this point the negociant sells to the merchants and the secondary market.
The key factors in pricing the wines:
- Brand / classification
- quality score
- the overall vintage average score, i.e. is it a Prime vintage and will a premium be applied?
- supply –the Chateau allocation released at en primeur and overall vintage
- the current price of similarly scored older wines
- market conditions and global economic factors.
The trade had expected an increase to the average release price of the 2021 wines. This was due to the quality of the 2022 vintage, the smaller supply and the increased cost base due to inflation.
Bordeaux's 2022 campaign started early with Cheval Blanc one of the first out of the blocks, with what turned out to be a sensible release price reflecting all the factors above. Many, however priced their 2022 wines over 20% higher than 2021 much to the consternation of the trade.
A protracted campaign coloured with heady prices and lower supply frustrated many merchants. Recent campaigns have reverted to pre-pandemic norms of becoming more geared towards the producers’ profit line than engaging the market at this early stage.
The 2019 vintage campaign had been the exception, which re-ignited the global merchant community in the en primeur process. Released in Q2 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 lock-downs, Bordeaux priced this excellent vintage at a discount to 2018 due to the extraordinary conditions we were all living in at the time. It was done differently, tastings were remote, they didn’t have the usual certainties and priced that in. Consequently, it is deemed a highly successful campaign. Since then, the release prices have grown and the allocations become smaller.
That doesn’t take away the appetite for Bordeaux’s great wines, but the time for investors to buy must be considered, when similarly scored older wines, in bottle, are available at a lower price.
Provenance has a price
En primeur wines when bottled and shipped are coming direct from the Chateau cellar, which equates to blue-chip provenance and that has a value. So, buying en primeur guarantees supply and provenance. For some, the goal is owning these wines at first release and held over the long term with plenty of scope to see the wine’s value grow over time.
Top 2022 wines priced to please the market
- Cheval Blanc
- Leoville las Cases
- Les Carmes Haut Brion
- Carruades de Lafite
- Canon
- Eglise-Clinet
Our view on investing in Bordeaux 2022
This is a truly outstanding vintage and investors are going to want to own the best of Bordeaux 2022, now and in years to come. Those who positioned at the right price at en primeur will reap the rewards. For some, the pricing strategy may lead to some short-term lag, but it is more likely that the merchants are mopping up the current dip in those wines priced too high at release.
The Bordeaux chateaux are drifting to some degree on their own engagement with the en primeur process. No doubt, the ritual and celebration of the latest vintage release is a fantastic occasion, but the reality of changing views on the level of supply released at this stage and pricing is changing the game. Where the chateaux no longer need to sell future positions to the same extent is creating a shift in the dynamic of en primeur.
First Growth, Chateau Latour’s complete withdrawal from the process in 2012 may teach some lessons a decade later. But the fine wine secondary market has evolved since then. It is no longer Bordeaux-centric and the balance of supply of wines from other regions and price with changing trends in demand is a complex market mix. Is Bordeaux getting it right? There will always be massive demand for the great wines of Bordeaux, and especially for outstanding vintages like 2022, but value is an important factor with the choice now available.
We selected our 2022 en primeur purchases with great care, following our visits to Bordeaux pre and during the en priemur tastings. We are delighted to have helped our clients to now own some spectacular wines from this ‘classic’ vintage. For more information on 2022 wines available in the market and owning en primeur wines contact our expert team on 0203 384 2262.