JP Moueix sets the early tone ahead of en primeur tasting week by releasing their full 2012 range.
Etablissements JP Moueix, owners of leading Right Bank estates Chateaux La Fleur Pétrus, Trotanoy and Belair Monange, has released its full range of 2012 wines a week before en primeur with prices down by an average 15%.
Edouard Moueix, director of JP Moueix alongside his father Christian Moueix, told Decanter.com that their strategy is always to release the wines first in Belgium, with the UK release planned for the week following the official en primeur tasting week.
‘In some years, we will only release the mid-range chateaux at this point, but in 2012 we feel that there is no need to wait. This is a vintage for buying and selling, and to create a sense of excitement in the wines, we felt this made sense.’
Moueix said prices are between 10% and 15% down from last year. ‘We have decreased the prices not because of the quality of the wine, but because of the situation of the market.’
As en primeur tasting week approaches, there has been a general call for 2012 prices to see a minimum 20% drop on last year. First Growths, according to several sources in Bordeaux, are expected to come out early in the campaign, with some sources suggesting a drop of 30% on last year’s prices is realistic.
‘There is no need to wait for Parker scores in a difficult year,’ one leading broker told Decanter.com this week, ‘and there is not a lot of money around anyway, so it’s best to go early at a good price.’
Patrick Bernard, of négociants Millésima, appealed to a group of chateaux owners at his retasting of the 2011 wines last month with the words, ‘2011 had a taste that the consumers don’t like… It was too expensive. 2012 gives you the chance to use the same clairvoyance as you did in 2008. You diagnosed the problem then, please do it again.’
Alongside Moueix, the RendezVous Médoc chateaux, including 13 Médoc estates, such as Arsac, Cambon La Pelouse and Caronne Ste Gemme, will again release their wines through Les Grands Crus brokerage firm, in the week beginning April 15.
Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux
