Not cheap at $625.
A
Have you tried it yet? I have not, but as much as I love 2008 in general I would be tempted even at that price.
I do not understand this politic. The wine is still not ready for consumption. Latour develops like a snail. 10 years is nothing for this wine. What did Mouton cost EP? Maybe this is the explanation.
There is also an interesting offer of 1 bottle each of Latour from 1950 - 2010, 61 bottles!
2008 Mouton was widely available for $200 EP, and Latour was available for $300.
I still regret not buying the FGs that came out in the 2008 vintage at or around $200.
Tom, I had it en primeur, and I thought it excellent for the vintage, but not enough to buy. Not had it since. At that price, it is of absolutely no interest; I kind of think of it as a $200 wine and a $425 label. Too many better wines at a faction of the price.
To be honest, I went to Bordeaux in 2009 to write about the negotiants.
A few minor players, had serious cash flow trouble, stuck with ‘06, 07 and possibly ‘08 not selling through, although the chateaux had dropped the prices of 2008 to make them more attractive. There was even talk of chateaux having to buy wine back or not press for payment to keep them afloat. Then the Chinese entered the market…
The window to buy those 2008s was short as 8 is apparently a lucky number, so heavy Chinese buying accounted for a lot of stock.
Wow. $129K+. I have no idea if that’s a good price. I’ve never seen anything like that before.
I didn’t see that part of the offer but figured that Latour would add a premium. That is over $2k a bottle, and there is only a handful are worth that, and only the 1961 is worth more, and that is canceled by a large number of $3-400 range.
That being said, I am sure there will be takers.
I can see some casinos buying that. Drop of a bucket for them too.
What does rerelease mean in practical terms? They held back a bunch of wine and are trying to sell it now?
Correct. The major chateaux have always held back significant stocks for their libraries, but Latour has gone a step further with it to where they are now operating much like Dom Perignon with deliberate plans to hold back enough stocks to do future releases of the wines at higher prices. I see it as part of the reality of certain major wineries being owned by individuals or corporations with sufficient wealth that they can sacrifice cash flow for the sake of greater long term profit in a business that has traditionally been very cash flow driven.
The risk is that eventually you manipulate the market too much and sales dry up. That does not seem to be a risk with Latour just yet- the current auction rate for the 2008 is close enough to Latour’s asking price that I would prefer to pony up the extra and have the perfect provenance- but I imagine they are watching the market quite closely as part of this new strategy.
But again, the better chateaux have always maintained significant library stocks. If you look back to many of the auctions going on during the bubble market of the mid to late 2000s, you will see in a number of instances provenance notes indicating that a given lot of high end Bordeaux was purchased by the seller direct from the chateau within the prior decade. Also, you now see with some frequency chateaux- and even Burgundy Domaines- offering recent or older vintages direct at the major auction houses. That was almost unheard of 20 years ago.
Bummer. Now that I have my core lifetime cellar pretty much assembled, one of the things I have wanted to do is backfill a bit on Lafite and Latour just to have a few special bottles for down the road. I am honestly tempted to wait for a cellar to come along where an original owner has magnums from the 80s and early 90s rather than pay the current going rates for the newer vintages.
Dont get this, why would you spend $2K + average when the majority of the 1950-1980 is worthless, your buying ornaments
I’ve found most of the 2008s to be approaching a great window. I had Mouton last summer, and it was exceptional.
Disclaimer- Yes, we are selling this wine.
Convenience
I think the question is what question does having 60 consecutive vintages answer.
- It would look amazing in your cellar, and will never be drunk at least be the purchaser.
- As Michael says convenience, so an ardent Latour can drink a bottle per week or whatever, over a period of time.
- To put together a major Latour tasting over a long weekend. The selection is annoying, as it should have gone back to 1945, to include three major vintages, ‘45, ‘47 and ‘49. As someone who puts together tastings such as this, I can’t see the value of tasting more than one of ‘63, ‘65, ‘68, and ‘69 etc, and there are at least a dozen dismal vintages in the line up. And of course, the price is stupid, it’s worth maybe half.
- As an investment. See final sentence of 3.
Latour is taking no risks. They have raised the price of their second wine to the same level as the 2008 first wine, and since that sells out easily, it takes care of cash flow. If there is a shortfall, they can always release back vintages, such as 2008. Meanwhile they have all their Latour grand vin sitting in the cellar, at basically no cost.
I can see them releasing weaker vintages such as 2017 long before the top vintages like 2015 and 2016. They stopped selling en primeur in 2012, so the 2010 is I think the first vintage held back.
It is a clever strategy, and shows Engerer’s financial training. Hard to see it backfiring; Latour coms to market at almost optimum maturity, and that should enhance the brand. A little surprised by the release of 2008, which is I suspect ten years from that optimum maturity, but the I am not privy to the inner workings of Engerer’s mind.
Yes, I noticed the same thing here - although I was told by someone in no uncertain terms that it was impossible.