{"id":1559020,"date":"2026-01-22T12:26:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.67pallmall.com\/?p=1559020"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:54:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:54:52","slug":"under-the-surface-en-primeur-is-burgundy-going-the-same-way-as-bordeaux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.67pallmall.com\/under-the-surface-en-primeur-is-burgundy-going-the-same-way-as-bordeaux\/","title":{"rendered":"UNDER THE SURFACE |\u00a0En Primeur \u2013\u00a0Is Burgundy going the same way as Bordeaux?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Burgundy’s 2024 vintage has had a lukewarm reception, yet for the most part, prices remain high. In a stuttering fine wine market, should producers in the C\u00f4te d’Or be heeding the lessons of their counterparts 500km southwest, asks Guy Woodward<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here in London, the second week of January is now firmly established as Burgundy En Primeur week, with professional wine buyers and amateur wine lovers alike dashing from one merchant\u2019s tasting to another. This year, as samples of the 2024 vintage were swirled, and notes swapped, there was the usual deluge of online commentary on vintage conditions (wet and arduous), together with the wines\u2019 quality (whites excellent, reds mixed) and their overall quantity (sparse). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more furtive chatter centred around arguably the most important element of all \u2013 price. The recent market for top-end Burgundy has been, to say the least, volatile. Unprecedented price rises over the second half of the 2010s took the top wines stratospheric, before the bubble was pricked early in the 2020s. Remind you of anywhere? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some merchants were willing to acknowledge the elephant in the room. \u2018There is a cautionary tale 500km to the southwest,\u2019 warned Guy Seddon, head of fine wine buying at Corney & Barrow, in the merchant\u2019s vintage report. \u2018Bordeaux has seen its customer base dwindle over the past decade, through an approach to En Primeur pricing that has largely removed the incentive to buy upfront.\u2019 Notwithstanding the much smaller quantities produced in Burgundy, Seddon maintains that the same principle applies. \u2018Drinkers still love Burgundy, but they won’t buy it at any price,\u2019 he said. \u2018Nobody wants to feel that they are overpaying.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Drinkers still love Burgundy,
but they won’t buy it at any price. Nobody wants to feel that
they are overpaying<\/p>Guy Seddon,
CORNEY & BARROW<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In such a climate, Seddon cautioned that customers would find price rises for the 2024 vintage \u2018hard to swallow\u2019 \u2013 even if domaines\u2019 volumes had been hit. \u2018The value of comparable previous vintages should inform new release prices,\u2019 he argued. \u2018As we saw with 2021, using lower yields as justification for higher prices doesn\u2019t wash.\u2019 He was, he added, all too aware of the squeeze on margins for producers and merchants as a result. \u2018But bottles stuck in the supply chain are no use to anyone. They are made to be uncorked. Much as we feel for our friends in Burgundy, in the current market, a short crop is perhaps not entirely unwelcome.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Catherine Ja\u00ebn MW, his counterpart at fellow merchant Lay & Wheeler, agrees: \u2018For a few years now, an imbalance has been building in Burgundy,\u2019 she said. \u2018Release prices have been high, leaving in their wake a growing pile of expensive recent vintages not yet ready to drink [and] struggling to compete with a softened secondary market where mature vintages are, when attractively priced, snapped up quickly. The sharp shortages in 2024 may be the correction the market needs.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even some critics \u2013 who normally concern themselves only with the wines, rather than the market \u2013 weighed in. Matthew Hayes, Burgundy correspondent for jancisrobinson.com, commented: \u2018In such demanding economic times, there is a fair argument to regard the tiny harvest of 2024 as a blessing. It is not a vintage for the ages, and as such, surely better that it is more quickly sold through.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Producers, it seems, are less convinced. Paul Epistali\u00e9, director and winemaker at Simonnet-Febvre, and president of the Union des Grands Crus de Chablis, was at pains to point out that, thanks to devastating frost and hail earlier in the season, yields in Burgundy\u2019s northernmost outpost sat somewhere between a third and a half of the norm. \u20182022 and 2023 were recovering after the low-yielding 2021, so 2024 represents the worst possible timing from a market perspective,\u2019 he told 67 Pall Mall. As a result, \u2018Prices this year are dictated by quantity not quality.\u2019 While it was prolonged wet weather that impacted yields in the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or, El\u00e9onore Latour, vice president at Louis Latour \u2013 one of Burgundy\u2019s largest producers (and parent company of Simonnet-Febvre) \u2013 said the same rules apply. \u2018We always say we need three good vintages in a row \u2013 quantity-wise \u2013 to be able to lower prices,\u2019 she told us. \u2018We had 2022, 2023 and then bam \u2013 2024 hits.\u2019 There is no escaping the fact, she added, that scarcity is a major contributing factor when it comes to setting prices \u2013 particularly for negociants, who rely on bought-in grapes. \u2018When there is a lack of grapes, the prices go up, and the grapes go to whoever can afford them.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The second week of January saw London merchants such as Jeroboams host a range of Burgundy en primeur tastings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Starr, CEO of online trading platform WineBourse, has little sympathy, however: \u2018Lower yields do not justify higher prices,\u2019 he argues.\u2018<\/strong>The reason yields are lower is because of the poor growing season, and thus 2024 is, by definition, a sub-par vintage.\u2019 He puts the vintage at a similar quality level to 2013 and 2017, and urges buyers to be \u2018very cautious\u2019 of merchants \u2018pushing consumers to accept higher prices based solely on scarcity\u2019, which he describes as \u2018utter nonsense\u2019. \u2018Wine is not a commodity like wheat, where supply and demand impact price,\u2019 Starr says. \u2018No-one HAS to buy a particular vintage. Fine wine has longevity \u2013 and you can look at the vintage curve to judge value and find better, cheaper examples from older vintages.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latour counters that most of the industry is mindful of such concern, and of the economic climate: \u2018I’m not going to talk for everyone, but I think most producers are listening. At Latour, prices haven\u2019t gone up in 2024 \u2013 we are remaining stable for the most part, or even going down for some wines. We don\u2019t want Burgundy to become this unreachable region where no one can afford the wines.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a sentiment often heard from producers, with Thibault Liger-Belair, founder of the eponymous Nuits-St-Georges domaine, and Laurent Delaunay, head of n\u00e9gociant Edouard Delaunay, both on record as expressing their hope that prices on the secondary market would come down. The much in-demand grower Benjamin Leroux called the recent market \u2018crazy\u2019, adding that \u2018just getting back to normal would be great\u2019. In the longer term, however, it is the price of grapes that has to come down to have a major impact. \u2018And sadly, it’s not the case yet,\u2019 he said. \u2018There are signs, but the small crop in 2024 is bad timing.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2024 whites have, for the most part, been more warmly received than the reds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy buyer for Berry Bros & Rudd, had some sympathy, conceding that the small crop made it difficult for small producers \u2013 \u2018and 2025 is not particularly large, either\u2019. The stronger euro hasn’t helped either, meaning BBR had had to cut its margin to remain competitive. \u2018Everyone says prices are too high,\u2019 he said, \u2018And I\u2019ve no doubt [the producers] are all price-conscious. But they’re not also that keen on going down.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, though, most UK merchants seem satisfied. \u2018Prices have largely been held, which, given it\u2019s a smaller vintage, is welcome,\u2019 said Matt Tipping, CEO of Jeroboams. Martin Tickle, the merchant\u2019s fine wine buyer, added further context: \u2018Domaines are acutely aware that their wines must be opened and enjoyed, not locked away as investible curiosities,\u2019 he said. \u2018Volumes are too small to expect reductions, but there is a clear sentiment that stability is a virtue \u2013 an affirmation that Burgundy still belongs at the table.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Domaines are acutely aware that their wines must be opened and enjoyed, not locked away as investible curiosities,’ said Martin Tickle, fine wine buyer at Jeroboams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Catherine Ja\u00ebn MW of Lay & Wheeler also heralded growers for not raising prices, recognising, she said, \u2018the need for calm in the market\u2019. David Roberts MW at Goedhuis Waddesdon claimed that \u2018All our domaines are aware of and sensitive to current market conditions,\u2019 and that, \u2018barring the odd exception, they have restrained from a farmer\u2019s temptation to compensate small yields by increasing prices.\u2019 He added, however, that \u2018The pressure of demand over supply on Burgundy\u2019s greatest wines shows no sign of abating, and even went so far as to say: \u2018The En Primeur system may have its critics, but the fact is that if you like Burgundy, [2024] is the time to buy.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may be pushing it, says Starr, who is certainly one of those critics. \u2018We\u2019re starting to see Bordeaux En Primeur habits play out in Burgundy, elevating prices irrespective of the quality of the vintage,\u2019 he warned. \u2018But En Primeur is not buying wine, it\u2019s a futures market for speculating on the price of wine. And such practices have resulted, with alarming frequency, in consumers buying wines at inflated prices, when they could pick them up years later much cheaper.\u2019 His words were backed up by Nick Pegna, global head of wine and spirits at auction house Sotheby’s, who told Club Oenologique magazine that confidence in the secondary market had been \u2018undermined by recent Bordeaux primeur prices and overly ambitious price increases in Burgundy.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A dispassionate view came from Matthew Hayes at jancisrobinson.com, who wrote that, while the generosity of 2022 and 2023 had optimists hoping that prices would start to soften, Mother Nature was having none of it. \u2018The tiny harvest and sheer costs of production in 2024 mean price reductions remain almost impossible.\u2019 Hayes noted that, as he put it, \u2018Everyone is feeling the pinch\u2019 \u2013 even at grand cru level, where consumers are \u2018turning up their noses at wines that just a couple of years ago were flying out of cellars at \u20ac350\u2013\u20ac450\u2019. Times are tough across the board, he added, \u2018and if you don\u2019t have the pedigree (for which read \u2018long-term investment-gain potential\u2019), especially so\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran critic Michael Schuster MW, meanwhile, expressed surprise that, given the quality, the prices of the reds hadn\u2019t come down. \u2018Sure, they\u2019re transparent and pure but they\u2019re also a bit thin in places, and there\u2019s no denying it\u2019s a \u201clesser\u201d vintage on the whole. It\u2019s tough for growers, but the market is the market and I suspect it\u2019ll be a tough sell given that there\u2019s older stuff out there at lower prices.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fall in price of some top wines in recent years has made buying Burgundy En Primeur a hazardous pursuit (graph: WineBourse)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So how is the market? As this newsletter went to press, most 2024 en primeur offers had been open for no more than a week. That was enough time, however, for Bruntlett at Berry Bros to declare the campaign \u2018tricky\u2019.  \u2018It\u2019s definitely tougher [than usual],\u2019 he told us. \u2018There’s depressed demand, as there is for all wines at the moment. From that point of view, having a small vintage isn’t the worst thing.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruntlett reported demand outstripping supply for certain wines, particularly in the C\u00f4te de Nuits, where production was particularly meagre. He also noted novelty as an attractive element of offers \u2013 be it new suppliers, one-off cuv\u00e9es or village-level wines bolstered by premier cru grapes unavailable in sufficient quantity to make a dedicated wine (of which there were several in 2024). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Wilmoth at Justerini & Brooks expects the vintage to perform similarly to 2021 [another small yielding vintage]. \u2018We\u2019re confident we\u2019ll sell the vast majority of what we have,\u2019 he said. \u2018The whites will fly and I don\u2019t see them dropping further [in price]. 2015, \u201816, \u201918 and \u201819 whites are all drinking well now, and there\u2019s not much 14 left, so there\u2019s only \u201822 and \u201823 with any volume on the market.\u2019 The reds, by comparison, \u2018are more varied and there\u2019s lots [of older vintages] around\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Berry Bros & Rudd was among the more prominent merchants to hold an en primeur tasting ahead of its offer, with Burgundy buyer Adam Bruntlett admitting the campaign was ‘tricky’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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So is the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or\u2019s star on the wane? \u20182014-2022 was a phenomenal run for Burgundy,\u2019 says Wilmoth. \u2018People were almost buying blind and still asking for more. Now, merchants are being held to account and customers are very selective \u2013 but not just when it comes to Burgundy and not just when it comes to wine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think we’re at a plateau now, in terms of where producers can go with prices,\u2019 added Bruntlett. Wilmoth agrees. \u2018The desire is there, but consumers are more cautious, looking for value, quality-conscious. There\u2019s also more choice in fine wine than ever before. South Africa, Spain, Loire, California\u2026 they all offer great value for money and the quality is sky high if you know where to look.\u2019 Now that’s the sign of a good merchant \u2013 they always have something to sell\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For an accompanying piece charting the critics’ reception to Burgundy 2024, see here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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