Bordeaux 2012: releases recommence

After a quiet day following the weekend, the en primeur campaign has come back to life this morning.

Troplong-Mondot and Giscours were the only major releases yesterday (29 April) and seemed to pass by without much notice.

So far this morning (30 April) Saint-Estèphe estate Lafon Rochet and Pessac-Léognan property Pape Clement have emerged.

Right Bank château, Troplong-Mondot, with a solid score from Robert Parker, dropped just 6% from €57 per bottle ex-négociant to €54p/b.

Giscours meanwhile dropped 9% from €29 p/b to €26 p/b.

The new arrivals have taken slightly larger cuts.

Pape Clement, also with a good Parker score, cut its price by 13% from €57.6 p/b to €50 p/b. In a rare occurrence, that takes it a further 23% down on its 2008 release price of €64.9 p/b.

Lafon Rochet dropped 12% on 2011 from €24.6 p/b to €21.6 p/b, still 16% up on its 2008 release of €18.6 p/b.

It is likely that Parker’s scores last Friday will have slowed many intended releases as estates look at recalibrating their intended prices to suit their score.

With the Right Bank being particularly favoured this year, it is likely that many of the châteaux in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion still to release will be considering what the bare minimum is they can drop.