Burgundy Producers Who Raised Prices Crazy in 2019

Hi Everyone,

I know of 2 Burgundy producers in 2019 who went crazy with there price increases.

1. Clos de Tart - 50%
2. Domaine des Lambrays - 100%

Am I missing anyone else? Since William Kelly said there’s going to be crazy price increases for 2020 it would be nice to know who already jacked up there prices and by how much. Thanks…

Bump!

We were just talking about this a bit in the 2020 thread.

Bouchard went up significantly across the board and especially with CdB at about 50%.

Trapet also went up close to 40% across the board.

Wow, that’s crazy on Lambrays. It’s been going up the past few years already. I guess more and more of the2nd and 3rd tier high end wines will go this way.

I wonder if Lambrays is really still 2nd/3rd tier. I haven’t had the wines in a quite a while (and the ones I had in the aughts were not very impressive) but there have been quite a few changes and based on Jasper Morris’s evaluation of the last few vintages, it seems like this might be an address where LVMH has turned things around. But I’m speculating without trying the wine.

There are many producers that have gone logarithmic, but it’s often hard to tell whether the price increase is coming from the producer as opposed to someone else in the supply chain.

LVMH makes luxury products.

If all you’re after is good Burgundy, feel free to look elsewhere.

On the contrary, I think LVMH has been a pretty good steward of winemakers. Cheval Blanc and Yquem come to mind, and while I’m not a champagne drinker I take it that Krug and Dom Perignon are thought to perform at a high level. I’d also note that Lambrays is in fact their only burgundy. So if you haven’t tasted the recent vintages, it would be hard to form a basis that they aren’t producing good burgundy.

You mean exponential. Logarithms are extremely slow growing.

I would take his comments to be more that you don’t need to support the handbag empire. You can drink lovely Burgundy without them (even if wines they sell are delicious).

Ha yes. This is why I abandoned my short-lived career as a physics major and pursued a career in the law.

No, Lambrays has actually gotten good. The pricing used to be good because, as you note, it was a distinctly third tier wine. As William Kelley has posted, the joke was that by buying Lambrays you were getting a bottle of village burgundy for the price of a 1er cru that said grand cru on the label.

LVMH has put quite a bit of money into Lambrays, the increase in price is not random. Say what one will about LVMH, they are dedicated to making high quality products, even if they charge an arm and a leg for them.

At this point, anyone who has an aversion to luxury goods should probably reconsider all burgundy and not just those domaines owned by LVMH.

Yes, I think there’s an argument to be made for rephrasing the subject of the thread in the passive rather than the active voice…

This is the correct interpretation. I have enjoyed many LVMH wines, I just don’t buy them.

I also drive a VW, not a Mercedes, which doesn’t mean I think Mercedes are poor quality.

There is more than an element of truth to this. Happily, there are still some exceptions providing reasonable value.

I agree.
Most of the pricing I see posted on here seems to be a construct of your (North American) market.

Which is, of course, owned by Porshce, one of the world’s great luxury brands. Much the same way that Lambrays is owned by LVMH.

Maybe not my best example.

I guess my real point is that I look for value in most things, not luxury.

VW may be owned by a luxury brand, but is not itself a luxury brand.

Lambrays may now be excellent, but it’s cost reflects that, and maybe more. It is a luxury brand, or at least well on its way. And that’s ok. Billionaires gotta drink, too.

But if I want a Morey grand cru, I would just prefer to spend $250 on 2019 Jouan Clos St Denis than $650+ on 2019 Lambrays.

But honestly, I’m not buying much grand cru anymore, because I think even $250 is a hell of a lot for a bottle of wine.