-30% for Cheval Blanc, -27% for Lafite… The Grands Crus correct their En Primeur pricing but the market holds back, is it doing the maths?

ock-bottom prices for a system that’s hit the bottom? May isn’t an easy month in France to release En Primeur wines with one bank holiday after another. So far, there is one constant, though – the substantial price drops by the Grands Crus. On May 6, Château Cheval Blanc 2024 came out with a price tag of €276 per bottle ex-negoce which according to the Liv-Ex marketplace is “the lowest in ten years” and 29.5% down on the 2023 vintage for the former Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé A. On April 30, Château Angélus was released at €180, on a par with 2013 (-31%) and on April 29, Château Lafite-Rothschild came out at €288 ex-negoce, “reverting to the price of the 2014s” (-27% on the 2023s for the Pauillac 1855-classified Premier Grand Cru Classé). En Primeur prices are proving to be lower than market prices, in keeping with the tone set by Château Branaire-Ducru (1855-classified Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé).

The price reduction strategy was expected by the markets and validated by the Place de Bordeaux but will appealing prices be enough to ensure a successful campaign? With a combination of back vintage inventory still available – with ratings now confirmed and at reduced prices for the 2021s in particular – and a global economy that remains volatile (encouraging people not to stock wine), convincing people that En Primeur wines will see their prices rise in the future or be subject to limited availabilities, seems a tall order.

“There is a measure of frustration. Everybody has faced their responsibilities and done what they had to”, one negociant admitted to Vitisphere, claiming that the issue this year was not about the industry but an economic climate that compelled caution. “The era when the trade sold all its wines in a morning is over”, stressed the sales director of one Cru Classé. Although it is difficult to ascertain the cost price of a Grand Cru Classé, it has emerged that increasing numbers of them are selling lots at a loss to lighten the burden of stocks.