Thanks for the Input. London isn’t really an option for me. I have to feed my retailers/distributors in my home market (to get allocations on the highly wanted wines like DRC, Rousseau and the likes). But anyway, I’m not really into investing in wine (there is already enough capital in my wine cellar, wouldn’t make sense from a diversification standpoint).
Ahhh, ok that makes sense. If you were selling to market, London’d work, but if you’re selling to specific people, of course not.
Cheers,
Henry
Thank you for putting this together, what is interesting is with the 2022 classification coming up next year what will happen. Based on just critic scores…should Pavie be dropped? Canon and Figeac promoted? I believe I read somewhere that Figeac is being considered, they won’t drop anyone but after the Pavie WA scandal last year of sending different blends to different critics, maybe it is time for a complete overhaul?
^^^^^^^^^^ this
No matter how much they bitch and complain about it, it’s just not a first growth in quality
Can you elaborate please on Pavie? I’ve tried to Google with no success.
ah members only unfortunately
Basically they sent out two EP samples one for Galloni and one for Lisa…it seems they were both different…Pavie said it was a mistake, but still. It makes you wonder if they blended a wine based on individual styles.
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I wouldn’t call it a scandal as they send out the second bottle to all the critics and to all the critics it was a different wine than the first bottle (which was missing one plot in the blend).
Here’s what happend, narrated by LPB
We are all managing the very best that we can in order to continue business as usual, in spite of these crazy times. It’s a relentless juggle. Once, at the 9 p.m. end of a long day during this 2019 Primeurs lockdown tasting period, after getting up at 5 a.m., home-schooling my five-year-old for the morning, receiving samples, lugging the many boxes down into my cellar to rest, bringing the day’s samples up to my office to taste, opening and tasting dozens of samples in between multiple Zoom calls with VIP winemakers and château owners, I glanced down to realize I was still wearing my bedtime t-shirt, given to me by my daughter, which bears the words, “I Believe in Santa & Unicorns.” I felt like such a failure.
Two days later, I happened to receive a second bottle of Château Pavie, a few days after I had already tasted one sample, only instead of my name on it, this one was for A. Galloni. A glance on social media that day revealed that Neal Martin had received a bottle, this one featuring my name. Others may have rushed to take offense, but all I could think was, “Thank God I’m not the only one dropping balls.”
There are conspiracy theorists out there thinking that some châteaux make special blends for particular critics, based on what they imagine their tastes to be. It’s crossed my mind. So, imagine my delight opening what I assumed was Galloni’s bottle and realizing it was different. Brighter, more vibrant, with more contrasting flavors and layers, BETTER. Was I catching Pavie in the act? More to the point, did they not think I would like this wine better?
As soon as I hopped on a Zoom call with Henrique da Costa, Gerard Perse’s son-in-law, who is increasingly becoming the face of the estates, he hastily cut me off, asking, “Did you get the second Pavie bottle?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, gleefully waving the bottle. “I got Galloni’s Pavie!”
“Oh,” he said dismissively. “That’s not important. Did you taste the second bottle?”
“Why?” I asked. “Is it different…?”
“Yes.”
This is when Da Costa clarified that the second set of samples was sent to critics who had been previously been sent the wrong “final blend” of 2019 Pavie. Apparently, a cellar hand drawing the initial barrel samples had omitted to add one critical plot of old-vines Cabernet Franc. I asked if this cellar hand still had a job.
“Yes,” Da Costa laughed.
Then, Da Costa explained, the logistics company sending out the second batch of samples did not realize that the names on the bottles needed to match the names on the addresses.
“We really need you to taste the second sample,” Da Costa said imploringly. “We feel it truly shows the complexity of 2019 Château Pavie—all the terroir.” At least he was telling me this wearing a suit and not his pajamas.
Read the text above carefully. The wines send to Galloni or LPB were not different. The first batch of wines send to all critics was different than the second batch of wines send to all critics.
Interesting to see the results after many descriptions of the process. Clearly one mans tastes may not reflect the preferences of others. For instance many would prefer to drink a Batailley rather than a Potensac, despite Bob scoring them the other way round.
I am not convinced…do we have another critic confirming this? If we do I will drop my conspiracy theory 
Anyone know how to acquire Lafleur at its release price? My notes show 2016 Lafleur was released for $700/bottle USD.
To set the record straight…
There is no talk about who will be upgraded or downgraded except for what takes place on websites like this.
Scores for Pavie by most critics have gone up, not down. Plus, scores are irrelevant in the classification.
Wine quality is only part of what goes into being a Premier Cru Classe A wine.
What is this “Scandal” you refer to? This is the first I’ve heard of it. What I can say is that the initial blend Pavie sent out to critics, (including me) was not a complete blend, it was missing the components of one vat. They notified everyone they sent samples to that they were shipping a second sample. Some tasters received bottles with other reviewers’ names on it. Is this your scandal? Or is it something else?
The same as buying any other highly allocated expensive wine. Buy a lot of stuff you don’t want from the same merchant then kid yourself how cheaply you got it.
Try to find out which of your merchants deal in Lafleur, and which part of the system they are. Have an open discussion about it with them.
In the UK, there are only a few merchants who get these allocaation wines direct, before they often sell them on to other merchants who take their own mark up. The higher up the pyramid you caan go, the less you’ll need to pay typically.
My experience to date has NOT been the ‘buy $10000 of wine to get a $1500 allocation’ - last seaason I got lafleur, but in a parcel deal, also buying Mouton and Pontet. I dont think there’s any reason to complain about buying either of those, at first tranche pricing. The Le Pin I got, one merchant only sells me Le Pin and nothing else, the other I do buy a few other wines from them, but again, Carmes Haut Brion and Canon is hardly anything to be ashamed of I think?
Also, I’ll DM you.
(edit - DM was also some additional tips on how to get allocations. It’s posted on another place, so I’m trying to avoid publicly linking an account that could doxx me with another account that details things about me, but if you’re interested in the list - to the broader audience - DM me and I dont mind sharing)
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I saved a draft , used "post reply, and “load a draft” but did not se a list with “saved draft” What a real pain, even if it worked . if I had only known…… RTPL
Satisfied now?
Thank you for clarifying regarding the mixup which was sent to all critics, I withdraw my statement. 
To Paul @bbott: I agree with you that Battailley is better than Potensac. Maybe it’s because he startedi in 1982, but I consider Parker ranked Batailley too low.
I believe I have figured out the reason for JimHow’s action in permanently banning my posts from BWE (for which in an odd way I am thankful but not grateful).
Recently I saw a post fom greatbxfreak that said "One of my American friends who now lives in Texas and has just planted an own vineyard teached (sic) me a typical American expression that is used towards a very irritating person “you’re a pain in the a…”
RT, just disappear from this forum, nobody here has the slightest need to read your nonsense (symbol:frown?)
I replied to greatbxfreak (it was not the first insulting post from her/him): Kindly stop your thoroughly detestable messages, and stop reading mine. People on this forum like you and Tim seem worse than anyone on Wine Berserkers . BWE is not nearly as polite as it pretends , and I question how JH is doing (or not doing) his job.
Tim, whom I consiider dreadful, does not seem to understand that if you divide a price by 1.108 for each point down, you had better divide the price by the square root of 1.108 for each half-point down (try doing it twice in a row by something else and see if the answer is or is not the first price divided by 1.108).