|
Parker’s Record-Breaking 2009 ‘In-Bottle’ Scores
Reaffirm Quality & Spark Trade
- 5th March 2012
By Tom Turner - Cult Wines Ltd -
http://www.cultwinesltd.com
After
much anticipation and speculation,
erobertparker.com crashed when brokers and
collectors alike descended upon the site to review
Robert Parker’s 2009 Bordeaux ‘in-bottle’ ratings.
After Parker’s recent Twitter comment that the ’09
was “…the single greatest vintage I have ever
tasted…” it was clear the ’09’s appeared to
be living up to their EP hype, but nobody quite
expected what was to ensue on the first evening of
March – a record eighteen 100-pointers ignited a
flurry of activity.
Flat white’s in-hand, the UK trade were hard at work
into the twilight hours, with overnight trading on
Liv-ex for nearly all of the perfect wines running
rife. Those members of the exchange who sat out the
overnight fire sale would have been stunned upon
their return to the office this morning, to find
some ’09’s trading at nearly double their price of
24-hours previous. The exchange’s largest movers are
listed below:

Source: Liv-ex Blog (02/03/2012)
Upon
Parker’s announcement, he commented “What was
clear in the tastings from the bottle (and most of
the wines except for the first growths and a few
other wines were tasted two, three and sometimes
even four different times) is the remarkable
consistency of the vintage.” This is
reflected in the scores, where the eighteen Châteaux
attaining the coveted numbers (listed below) are
split across both sides of the Gironde and a wide
variety of appellations.
The 100-point club (current market prices for cases
(12x75cl) are indicated):
Beausejour Duffeau
(£2,300)
Bellevue-Mondotte
(£2,500)
Clinet (£2,000)
Clos Fourtet
(£1,750)
Cos d’Estournel (£3,200)
Ducru Beaucaillou (£2,100)
l’Evangile
(£2,500)
Haut Brion (£8,000)
Latour (£12,000)
|
Leoville Poyferré
(£1,600)
La Mission Haut Brion (£6,000)
La Mondotte
(£3,000)
Montrose (£2,400)
Pavie (£2,300)
Petrus
(£28,000+)
Pontet Canet (£1,750)
Le Pin (N/A)
Smith Haut Lafitte (£1,400) |
In his
TWA article ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Parker
describes the 2009 as a “greatly improved”
and “more consistent”, modern-day
version of the 1982 vintage. Given the price levels
for the top-rated 1982’s it is clear to see where
the future value lies for those Grand Vins that
achieved the coveted score.
But it is not just the 100-pointers that were making
headlines, with many wines either being scored at
the top end of their in-barrel score spread, or
above that spread. Lynch Bages achieved 98-points,
having attained a mere 94-96+ at EP, while
Duhart-Milon Rothschild saw an increase from 94-96
up to 97-points. Lafleur’s 99 was a welcome premium
over the previous 94-97, but one of the big
surprises of the rescores was the Pichon Baron,
which having previously scored 93-95, was awarded
98-points, making it the best scored physical Baron
vintage, and at less than half the price of the
‘inferior’ 1990 (97), would seem to represent an
attractive investment prospect…
With a below par 2011 En Primeur campaign expected,
it is clear that there is going to be particular
focus on the 2009 & 2010 vintages over the next few
years. One should not forget that certain Châteaux
made equally as good, if not better wines in 2010
and these back to back ‘stellar’ vintages will go
down in the annuls of Bordeaux history. Will there
be a similar frenzy this time next year for the 2010
release? Only time will tell, but if the new price
levels for 2009 are at all sustained, then the
relative value of a number of the ’10’s will become
increasingly discerning.
Robert Parker Jnr Bordeaux 2009 'In-Bottle' Scores

2009 is
a clearly a remarkable vintage when comparing the
list of Parker’s 100 pointers from the most
successful vintages since 1982.

The
market has been greatly impacted by RPJ’s in-bottle
scores and those investors/collectors perceptive
enough to pounce prior to Thursday evening’s
announcement are already looking at healthy profits.
It must be said, that as Parker stated there are a
number of fantastic wines at affordable prices and
the table below shows a selection of Chateaux which
scored over 95 pts and look comparably good value:

The
table above consists of wines which are
traditionally considered ‘investment grade’ as well
as those which wouldn’t normally fall within that
category.
For those looking for good value drinking wines that
may well provide upside then those wines highlighted
blue look
like strong buys. Conversely, those wines
highlighted in
green which
always benefit from strong secondary market trading
and are traditionally seen as investment grade,
offer the best low capital 2009 investment buys.
The next week of trading is going to be particularly
interesting for onlookers to determine where these
2009 prices will settle. It also poses a fascinating
question as to where this leaves the 2010s…
:
|
|
|
|
|