Bordeaux 2015 wine prices pick up pace

Vineyards of the Bordeaux wine region

The pace of Bordeaux wine-price increases announced for the 2015 vintage has quickened over the past week, with top producers now having marked bottles up by about 25 percent on average from 2014, according to data from the London-based online Liv-ex wine market on its website.
Increases in 2015 prices from Bordeaux merchants in the past week alone relative to 2014 were running at about 32 percent, up from a more leisurely 19 percent in late May, the data show. Top estates were pushing harder, with seven leading growers each selling above 50 euros (USD56.84) a bottle announcing price increases of 35 percent on average.
Many major estates have still not set prices for their new “en primeur” wines sold while still in barrel, two months after presenting them in early April tastings. The annual sales campaign may last from a few weeks to three months or more, affecting the broader wine market as merchants and investors weigh new wines against those already available on the market.
“The pace of the 2015 en primeur campaign has picked up significantly,” Liv-­ex wrote in its market blog. “This has seen buyers looking for value across the back vintages.”
After three difficult vintages in Bordeaux from 2011 to 2013 and a return to a more classic style in 2014, last year’s wines have the potential to be the best since the highly rated 2009 and 2010 harvests. An unusually hot June and July was followed by rain in August that helped the vines, and then sunshine through the harvest allowed grapes to be picked at their ripest.
Producers interviewed in Bordeaux and London have said that 2015 is shaping up to be the highest-quality Bordeaux vintage for at least five years. Wine Advocate critic Neal Martin wrote in April that “the heady peaks of 2015 stand shoulder to shoulder with 2009 and 2010,” while pointing to a lack of consistency across the region. Bloomberg