Chateau Mouton Rothschild has released half its production at €100, a move which has been welcomed by the industry, Philippine de Rothschild has said.
The world economic situation demanded the drop, Baroness de Rothschild told decanter.com.
‘It has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with the world market, which is in a very bad situation.
The Mouton owner said that 40-50% of the total production of the first wine was on the market at that price – exactly half the release price of the 2007 vintage.
‘It won’t help the financial crisis but it will show that we have come down to reality – and it will give Bordeaux a new impetus.’
First growth Chateau Latour was the first out, at €110. Rothschild said she had no idea it was going to release so soon – two months earlier than last year.
She added that they had not decided their price when Latour released, but that she herself ‘had never thought about going higher than €110.’
She said that negociants and merchants had described the low price as ‘an elegant move’.
The urgent need for a radical decrease in price has indeed been a constant refrain in the industry.
One Bordeaux negociant said, ‘If the first growths didn’t do this big price drop, there wouldn’t be a campaign at all, and it is definitely making other properties think harder about dropping their prices.’
Rothschild said that she ‘would have no trouble selling the wine’, but agreed that the first tranche of Mouton – which critic Jancis Robinson MW has made her ‘wine of the vintage’ – would certainly ‘go up in price’.
But she strongly denied any idea that subsequent tranches would priced anywhere near the €180 that decanter.com is predicting the first growths will go up to.
Written by Adam Lechmere
