Interest in 2009 Burgundy boosts merchants

The 2009 Burgundy en primeur campaign has delighted merchants, as UK consumers express strong interest in this critically acclaimed vintage.

Speaking to the drinks business at the Berry Brothers & Rudd tasting last week, the company’s Burgundy director Jasper Morris MW revealed: “Two days into our offer and we’ve already had more orders than in ’08, ’07 or ’06.”

Tracking the early stages of this year’s campaign, Morris explained: “There was furious interest to begin with. In the first wave you’ve got the people who want the best, the expensive stuff. Then during these next few days people will taste around and we’ll see interest in the sort of wines that don’t sell out straight away.”

After three relatively fallow years in Burgundy, Morris maintains that merchants who remained loyal to producers during this time are now reaping the benefits in securing allocations of the 2009s. “We were one of a few merchants that stayed faithful and supported producers in ’06, ’07 and ’08,” observed Morris, “That’s paid dividends now.”

Christophe Thomas, export director for Joseph Drouhin, offered a producer’s perspective on this. “When you have a great vintage, the old traditional markets wake up and you see people you haven’t seen in a while,” he commented wryly, adding: “We charge more to the cherry pickers, but it’s difficult in a global market.”

While prices have risen compared with 2008, Thomas emphasised that the scenario remains very different to the annual escalation seen in Bordeaux. “The best thing for Burgundy is to be more reactive than Bordeaux in difficult and exceptional vintages,” he suggested, stressing: “You have to give the best price you can.”

Putting this year’s increase in perspective, Thomas noted: “In ’09 we increased our prices but in ’08 we made a very small margin, in some cases just 15-18%.”

The higher prices also reflect the quality of the 2009 vintage. Morris was full of praise, not just for the top end of Burgundy’s offering, but also its village wines, saying: “The wines are wonderful right down to the baby wines.”

While several merchants and producers drew comparisons with the 1959 vintage, Nicholas Potel of Domaine de Bellene also suggested similarities with ’89.

For Thomas, “The wines were so approachable even in barrel; I think it’s the style of the vintage. I don’t believe it’ll close down – it’s not like ’05 which was very tight to understand when it was young, but I think it will mature in a similar way.”

In the wake of a general consensus among critics that this is better a year for Burgundy’s reds, Morris was keen to stress his faith in the white wines from 2009. “The whites have been overlooked but they’re gorgeous,” he enthused.

However, Morris did concede that most of these whites are geared towards “early drinking”, expressing some concern about this direction Burgundy’s whites have taken in recent years.

As speculators wait with trepidation to see if China will develop the same ravenous appetite for Burgundy as it has for Bordeaux, Morris is in little doubt that this will happen, led by the red wines.

Pointing to the scene in Hong Kong, he confirmed: “Burgundy is really taking off. Before they were only really interested in DRC but now people understand the full range; it’s not just collectors going after the big names.”

With a Berry Bros shop and office in Hong Kong, Morris stressed that UK customers would not lose out from any uplift in this arm of the business, saying: “We’re very strict about keeping our allocation of the UK separate from the Far East.”

Nevertheless, there is natural concern from some corners that Burgundy’s size and fragmented structure is simply unable to cater for an explosion in demand from the brand-focused Chinese.
 
Thomas observed: “Burgundy is still far from producing a lot of wines; we are 14 times smaller than Bordeaux. I’m afraid that when the Chinese look at Burgundy’s top wines, we can’t handle the increase any more.”

However, Thomas did point to a factor that might slow this awakening: “You have to be introduced to Burgundy at some point; you need someone to show you what’s there – there are more than 600 appellations.”

Moreover, if Far Eastern demand for the top names does remove these from the grasp of all but the wealthiest and most loyal UK Burgundy fans, Thomas suggested that this fragmentation at least offers an opportunity for consumers and merchants to discover the region’s numerous under-exposed corners.

“Villages like Morey are underrated; there’s room to move things forward,” he commented. “The good thing about the UK market is that it’s so demanding and there are so many players that everything is bought here. People are dedicated to the top of the market, but what about Macon Villages or St Veran?”

Meanwhile, Morris emphasised the importance of getting the ground work right in the Far East, predicting: “China is going to happen and I devoutly hope that we can do our wine education in China as fast as our sales teams are selling.”

Gabriel Savage, 20.01.2011