I know some of the vintages of Lafleur are legendary, and the 100 points RP gave it in 2000 certainly helped to keep people interested, but in the last few vintages it seems like the price for this wine has skyrocketed - and yes I know the prices across the board in Bdx have increased a lot, but I can still notice two outliers, namely Lafleur and Ausone.
For Ausone I understand it’s about marketing and aggressively pushing its way into the stratosphere, but for Lafleur I’m a bit perplexed, it seems to be following the steps of Petrus in terms of secondary market (insofar as same as Petrus the primary market price is at most 1/3rd of the secondary market price).
Any ideas why Lafleur seems to be so fashionable right now?
As the price goes up, the ultra rich “have to have it”. That keeps the price up.
A local wine collector who is also a former hockey player, Mario Lemiuex, scarfs up all of the Lafluer that is available inthe region. I have been unable to buy it because of that turd head. he doesn’t drink it, doesn’t drink wine, and if he did drink wine, wouldn’t know a Yellow-tail from a Petrus. But, he buys it because it that is what rich assholes do. and it will stay in one of his two cellars forever until it turns into vinegar because he doesn’t open them.
I have not seen any change in perception or popularity for Lafleur since the 1989 vintage. I remember buying the 1975 for $85, the 1979 for $85 and 1982 for about $75 as well. By 1989-1990 it was over (although did buy 10 cases of 1990 from Farr Vintners in 1993 for a whopping $1200 per case). Price has gone up considerably because there are a lot more people that want it. 15 years ago, very few cared and today the production is no higher than it was 15-20 years ago.
Is production really that small? In the “hundreds of cases” range? re: the price hike just compare the prices for vintages in the 90s compared to prices in the last decade, it’s more than doubled in price… the offers I get are on the same price level as Petrus.
I was gifted a 1978 LaFluer. It is easily on of the top 2 best bottles I have ever had. I have a hard time between this and a 1976 Grange, they are just so different in style but I cant imagine a better wine, clearly IMHO they are both worthy of the 100pts they get.
Hi Guillaume,
Lafleur is indeed a very low production outfit. I had the pleasure to attend a dinner with the Ginaudeaus in March and the production in 2008 was given with around 1000 cases +/- from around 4.4 ha. This averages at around 20 hl / ha going into the first wine. The winery was bought lately by todays owners from other family members and the price seemed to have been quite steep as the intended/ later on failed Petit Village deal of 85 million € set the price level. So a lot of financing had to be done. I remember the price of 2004 eP was 160 € and 2005 eP was around 490 € and the 2008 price is rumoured to be around 400 € at a reduced allocation of 2/3 and 2007 buyers only.
That’s not a lot and therefore scarce.
Cheers
Rainer
Rainer, thanks for the explanation, indeed I had not considered the fact that the property could have changed hands. If this was done when the prices were at the highest this would certainly have created huge financing needs.
I don’t remember the price of 04, in 05 it was 335, in 2007 → 415 and in 2008 → 270 but in every vintage with extremely limited quantities.
Sorry, wrong use of “changed hands”, I understood what you meant. And my prices also include VAT Actually last year Lafleur’s release price was above Petrus…
Actually last year Lafleur’s release price was above Petrus…