France - Bordeaux Flashcards
(37 cards)
How many châteaux are there in Bordeaux? What trend is this figure going in and why?
7000.
That number is shrinking as small properties are taken over by large neighbours to create commercially viable volumes of wine.
What can a château be?
A palatial country mansion or dilapidated farmhouse.
What is the average size of the estates, and what direction has this been going in?
19ha and rising.
What is the average annual production from the region?
Over 800 million bottles, although fluctuates.
How much of production are cooperatives responsible for?
25% of production from 40% of grape growers.
What is the most common level of price in Bordeaux?
Inexpensive to mid, reflected in the areas of vineyards planted in the appellations.
What are the percentages planted by types of wine of:
-Bordeaux
-Médoc and Graves
-Côtes de Bordeaux
-St-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac
-Dry whites
-Rosé
-Sweet whites
-Crémant
-Bordeaux, 44%
-Médoc and Graves, 18%
-Côtes de Bordeaux, 12%
-St-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac, 11%
-Dry whites, 9%
-Rosé, 4%
-Sweet whites, 1%
-Crémant, 1%
What are the production costs for Bordeaux AOC, a Médoc estate and a classed growth? What do these figures not include.
€0.57, €2.35 and €16 per bottle.
They do not include interest on bank loans or land costs, which increase the cost considerably.
What are the main additional production costs for a classed growth?
Increased vine density, harvest costs, hugely higher viticultural costs, lower yields, rigorous grape selection and barrel ageing (higher proprtion of new and longer duration within)
What other system has proven a vital tool for seeling wine? Where has this become prevalent, and what has it achieved?
The 100- point rating system made famous by Robert Parker and adopted by many critics.
Initially in the USA, now globally as an easy to understand way of communicating with potential buyers.
What is the total value of Bordeaux wine sales in 2018? How is this divided between exports and domestic?
More than €4 billion, more or less evenly split.
What is the division of sales by volume between domestic and exports?
56% domestic, 44% exports (although 52% by value).
What percentage of domestic sales was sold in supermarkets? And what was the average price of this?
48%, €5.80 in 2018.
Where are the top export markets by value?
Hong Kong, China, USA and UK.
What is Bordeaux’s unique commercial system? How does it operate?
La place de Bordeaux.
The producers (estates, co-operatives and large winery businesses) sell their wines to a merchant (négociant, collectively known as la négoce), who in turn sell it on to wholesalers and retailers. The relationship between these two businesses is handled by a broker, or courtier.
Each party charges a percentage for their services, the broker/courtier takes 2%, the Merchant/Negociant 15%.
It is the Merchant that will sell and ship the wine to distributors throughout the world.
What is the rarest form of sales for Chateaux in Bordeaux?
Direct sales.
How many countries is wine from Bordeaux distributed to? How to château ensure they are in the key markets?
170.
They will sell to a number of négociants, often as many as 40.
What determines the number of cases each négociant can purchase?
Determined by an allocation system, eaxh négociant is allotted a percentage of production each vintage.
Why has the great majority of wine (Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieur) struggled to raise it’s prices in recent years? What price is it stuck at, and where is it most often made and sold?
These wines have lower demand in France and have huge competition from wines from other countries such as Chile and Argentina on export markets.
Its struggled to rise above €1 per litre in bulk.
Most often made in co-operatives and by small producers or the grapes are sold directly to large wine companies (e.g. Castel).
Most often sold in French supermarkets.
How are classed growths and other high quality wines usually sold? How does this system work?
The en primeur system.
They are sold as futures, i.e. a paper transaction where the wine is sold a year to 18 months before bottling.
The wines are sold the spring after harvest, while wines are still in barrel.
When was the en primeur system started, but when did it gain popularity?
The period after the second world war when estates were struggling financially.
It wasn’t until the late 1970’s that consumers began to take an interest, and it was the great 1982 vintage that really kicked it off.
What is the first step on the en primeur campaign, from the tasting in April to the final allocation of en primeur wines? How do prices change within this period?
For this tasting barrel samples are provided by estates to be tasted by wine buyers and journalists. 5-6000 wine professionals taste and assess the wine.
The châteaux then release their prices throughout May and June.
After the tasting, the châteaux -usually through negociants- put a small proportion of wine up for sale, known as the “first tranche” which is intended to gauge what the market is prepared to pay.
For the first tranche the price is mostly set based on the châteaux’s reputation and critics scores, then the following tranches will have the price adjusted depending on how the first one sells, although usually the price goes up.
During this time trade buyers make decisions about the wines they’ll buy and in what quantities and journalists publish their reviews and scores to guide consumers.
The final customer of en primeur wine can put in orders through their fine wine merchants.
How are the rarest and most sought after wines sold? How do buyers maintain this?
On allocation.
Because of this, négociants and trade buyers may very well have to buy wines in a less good vintage to maintain their allocation in the top vintages.
What happens to wines that are in less demand?
There’s a chance they remain on the books of a négociant for some years before being sold, which might happen in a year when there’s little wine to sell or because the prices of the current vintage are too high.
