I was just curious about the “mechanism” by which a Burgundy producer’s pricing takes off into the stratosphere, seemingly suddenly. I am not talking about producers like Rousseau, Dujac, Roumier, Mugneret-Gibourg, etc…I have watched their prices climb over the years with particular jumps in heralded vintages, and not referring to the always stratospherically priced DRC and Leroy.
I guess Comte Liger-Belair was always high, but was Cathiard always so expensive?
But even more so producers like Arnaud Ente, whose prices went up 3-4 times seemingly all at once.
It seems that there are producers whose pricing is taking flight…related to reputation perhaps but seemingly to an absurd degree.
Another example, even more surprising to me, is Cecile Tremblay.
While having a good reputation but without much adulation her Bourgogne is now, according to Wine Searcher, $150, her premier crus $500, and grand cru $1000.
WHAT???
Of have I just not been paying close enough attention?
Actually, prices at the gate have not increased as violently. The prices explosions are for secondary market and are the result of concerted efforts of merchants and alternative fund managers who choose a candidate and make a concerted effort including proposing the wines at astronomical price on wine searcher. Savvy investors follow suite.
Initially, these efforts were mainly with Bordeaux as Burgundy volumes were too low but with current astronomical prices, Burgundy caught the disease. Investors and fund managers love very very expensive wines because the cost of storage relatively becomes smaller and smaller which ensures speculation concentrates on a limited number of cult producers. The goal is to get a producer from normal tier where cost of storage prevent the product to be investor-grade to a level where it changes category.
Some producers took several attempts but the hotting market has now succeeded in populating the investment grade family and Burgundy is now an important investment vehicle.
Cult Producers then take more or less time to try and catch up with their gate prices (some like Coche remain very reasonable… but you have to be very lucky… I am not, others catch up much quicker although their promoter try to keep them reasonable…).
Tremblay prices have crept up over there years or so. But largely driven by very low volumes. I suspect a few people will sell their stocks at this level and things might normalise a little. My ‘allocation’ is tiny so I’ll keep mine.
I know Burgundy prices continue to climb, and the greatest wines from the greatest and most “in demand” producers are expensive from the domaine and absurd on the grey market and amongst those retailers who mark the wines up to what the market will bear. I am used to seeing absurd pricing on the top wines of Rousseau, Mugnier, Dujac, Coche-Dury, though these reputations were built over a long period of time, and the prices seem to have increased in a more linear fashion…obviously more quickly on hyped vintages…but not rapidly exponential.
I am just wondering if this is escalating “celebrity” effect.
It seems like I took a bathroom break and came back and (starting a few years ago) Arnaud Ente is demanding Coche-Dury grey market prices, as is Cecil Tremblay, who I had no idea was held in that much esteem so quickly that she could demand…as I said…$145 for Bourgogne, $500 for premier cru, and $1,000 for grand cru on Wine Searcher. Doesn’t it seem like there is now a trend for some producers who either want to pull a “Leroy” and jack up their prices as a statement? And there are those who get hot on the grey market for some reason, the degree to which is not always completely in proportion to their scores. And in some cases the prices at the domaine may be more reasonable and its the distribution chain that is to blame. Nevertheless, it just seems like a “new hottest star” phenomenon with pricing to match has, in certain cases, more rapidly escalated.
Perhaps I am mistaken, and I just need to take shorter bathroom breaks.
It’s very hard to generalise. Some producers are expensive on primary market (ente, Leroy, Bizot), some are not (roumier, Rousseau, mugneret gibourg, coche, Raveneau,…).
I don’t buy Antoine’s fund manager theory… there’s not enough volume available, by a long way, at release prices to attract large speculators. The demand is huge and the volumes small - don’t think it needs to be more nefarious than that. And the reason why new producers can command those prices is because information flows so much faster now. Instagram, wine boards,…
Not to harp on Cecile Tremblay as an example, and not that scores are the be-all and end-all (though the track record of high scores correlates pretty well with demand and grey market prices), but those wines have good but not exceptional scores, so can anyone account for their rapid rise to stratospheric pricing?
Cécile’s wines can be beautifully aromatic, but above all they stand out for their filigree structure. Not every year or every cuvée—though more and more consistently since 2009—but when they show well, their textural properties make them very singular. In Burgundy, people are prepared to pay for singularity above pretty much anything else. And as several others have observed, quantities are small and carefully allocated.
I might also add that Cécile brings her wines (in barrel) up from the cellar to the cuverie for their spring bottling in an elevator after the harvest. That disturbs the fine lees which can make the wines hard to taste in October-November when most critics are reviewing Burgundy from barrel. Each producer has peculiarities like this and it can be hard to go to taste at the optimal time. For Cécile, I try to taste just after the harvest before she moves the wines.
A lot of reasons that Tremblay’s wines have shot up, but mostly because they are so damned good. A recent 2008 Chapelle had this incredible core of fruit in the mid palate which exploded in the mouth and left the three of us who tasted it speechless. I would put her wines on the same level as Dujac.
Doesn’t hurt that she is the great granddaughter of Henri Jayer.
The masses follow the herd. If you make an effort, you find something you like without breaking the bank, until it becomes an above wine. Then you can get upset or search again.
I heard years ago that eventually Tremblay’s production will go up by a good bit as some parcels owned by her go off lease or whatever. Anyone have any information on this like when it is going to happen or if I am correct.
I am a fan of her wines, but frankly would probably sell my Bourgogne Rouge if I could get $150 for it.
You are correct: she will get a parcel of Clos Vougeot, a large parcel of Vosne Beaux Monts, and more Morey-Saint-Denis village. The domaine will maybe grow by 20% I figure, but I need to ask her the exact figures. Currently the vines are in fermage (tact precludes my saying to who), so there will be some work to be done to raise the farming to her standards. Also some work to be done making space in her cuverie for the new vats!
Merchants: I buy direct from producer for some. A grand cru at 100 € a bottle (merchants sell it at between 130 and 170 a bottle en primeur). When I collect, I look at wine searcher and some bottles appear (Merchant have taken delivery) in some real case at 800€ a bottle. This price is an offer price which has not been determined by the market (bottle just appears) but an offer price fixed by the merchant (may have sold part of its allocation en primeur and then sells the remainer at huge margin sometimes himself, sometimes through a colleague).
Alternative Funds: unregulated in UK and of limited size. The dynamics are cash in cash out from the public and investors. Auction prices used to be lower than merchant prices. No more. Nowadays, for some fine wines, you have small lots which reach a level much higher than what you would pay at a shop or on line. Expressing my surprise, I was told that some fund managers reevaluate their stock at auction price and that buying a few bottles allowed them to report better results to customers.