On April 29, local time in France, Chateau Batailley, a fifth-class 1855 winery, announced the price of its 2023 en primeur. So far (May 15), a total of 31 2023 en primeur wines, including Lafite, Hau Bowang, Latour, Admiralty, Cheval Blanc, and other top wineries, have been announced.
The two biggest characteristics of this year's en primeur wine have been predicted in advance by the WBO in the article "2024 Bordeaux En primeur Week: Chinese importers are almost collectively absent, and the price of en primeur wine may be lowered", and they have been fulfilled one by one: first, the price of most wineries released en primeur wine this year has been greatly advanced; Second, the price of 2023 en primeur will be significantly reduced.
Judging from the current market situation, although the price has fallen significantly, the market is still in a wait-and-see situation.
01
The average decline of 31 en primeurs was more than 20%, and the original brand of Hou Bowang fell by nearly 40%
Judging from the winery wines whose prices have been published so far, the 2023 en primeur has shown a general sharp decline, which is very similar to the release price of the 2019 en primeur.
Château Bartley, the first company to announce its price, has a price drop of only 11.86% for its 2023 en primeur at €26 per bottle. Subsequently, the wineries represented by Admiralty, Mouton, and Hou Bowang all showed a significant decline.
Among them, the price of Château Angélus, the top winery on the right bank of Bordeaux, in 2023 is 260 euros per bottle, a significant difference from 350 euros per bottle in the previous year, a decrease of 25.71%; The prices of Mouton and Mouton sub-brand 2023 primeurs are 324 euros per bottle and 132 euros per bottle respectively, a decrease of 37.21% and 26.67% respectively; The prices of the three en primeurs of Hou Bowang, Hou Bo Wang, Xiao Hou Bo Wang and Hou Bo Wang White Wine in 2023 will be 312 euros/bottle, 96 euros/bottle, and 540 euros/bottle respectively, with a decrease of 39.53%, 27.27%, and 10% respectively, of which only Hou Bowang White Wine has a smaller decline; The prices of Lafite's Château Lafite and Lafite sub-brands in 2023 are 396 euros per bottle and 145 euros per bottle respectively, a decrease of 31.72% and 19.44% respectively.
Among the top top wineries, only Château Cheval Blanc, another top winery on the right bank of Bordeaux, has a relatively small 2023 en primeur price of 384 euros per bottle, a decrease of 18.3%.
Looking at the prices of the 31 en primeurs that have been released so far, the biggest drop is Leoville Las Cases, a second-class fortified wine on the left bank, with a price of 138 euros per bottle, a drop of 40%.
At present, only the two en primeurs of Guiraud and Lafleur have not lowered their prices, but they have not raised their prices to 38.5 euros per bottle and 610 euros per bottle, respectively, which is the same as last year.
According to Liv-ex, a well-known boutique wine trading platform, the average price of the 2023 Bordeaux en primeur has fallen by 21.5%.
Regarding the general reduction in the sale price of 2023 vintage en primeurs, Ma Xianchen, a well-known wine critic, told the WBO before: "Only when the price of 2023 en primeurs is adjusted to a level that the market can accept, will there be hope, which is the general trend." ”
02
The 2022 vintage was traded inverted in the secondary market
As for the price reduction of the 2023 en primeur, the market has actually expected it for a long time.
Although the 2022 en primeur showed a general increase in pricing due to the high quality of the entire vintage, the market did not accept it.
Yi Jian (pseudonym), a Shenzhen-based wine importer, said: "As we all know, 2022 is a big year. However, its price is significantly different from the current market situation, and the price of its en primeur is much higher than the market price of the spot in previous years, exceeding the market's affordability. Although the current trading price of the 2022 en primeur has dropped a lot, the spot quotations of some vintages in Hong Kong are still significantly more attractive than the prices of the 2022 vintage, so it will be more difficult to find a market for the 2023 en primeur if the price is not significantly reduced. ”
Judging from the current trading prices given by the Liv-ex platform, the secondary market trading prices of most 2022 en primeurs are clearly inverted from the offer price a year ago.
For example, the current trading price of the 2022 en primeur in the secondary market is currently at 3,600 pounds/case (12 bottles/case, the same below), while the original sale price is 4,296 pounds/case; The current trading price of the 2022 Mouton En primeur in the secondary market is currently around £5,600 per case (12 bottles/case), compared to the original launch price of £6,216 per case.
The trading price of the Admiralty secondary market in the past years
The price at which Mouton was traded on the secondary market in the past years
Despite the significant downgrade of the 2023 en primeur, it remains to be seen how well the market will accept it.
In its analysis of this, Liv-ex pointed out that buyers still have more choices for the en primeurs that have been released at the same price-performance ratio. Because for example, the 2014 vintage, 2017 vintage, 2019 vintage, etc., under the same quality difference, its price may still be more advantageous.
Although judging from the current trading situation on its platform, the trading volume of new vintage en primeurs, led by Lafite and Mouton, is on the rise, it needs to be further observed.
As for the Chinese market, Li Yingjie (pseudonym), an importer in Shanghai, said: "Chinese wine merchants have obviously lacked the transaction of en primeur wine in recent years, first, the entire famous wine market is sluggish, and in addition, the current en primeur wine has no obvious advantage in terms of price compared with spot, and wine merchants are still pessimistic about the future market." ”
Some people in the industry also believe that for the trading of en primeur wine, it occupies a huge amount of capital, and even the major importers in the mainland will be worried, and the transaction risk is significantly higher than that of spot procurement.