I thought I'd relay some thoughts about the extraordinary phenomenon that was the 2009 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign. It's been highly exhilarating for me to play a part in. The 6th year I've locked horns with it, in one way or another! In terms of TBC, it's been successful as I've managed to sell over four times the volume of that sold in 2008. I am obviously hugely appreciative of that and, though my Bordeaux writing sometimes takes on a jovial tone, I take the responsibility of safe delivery of these valuable wines, very seriously! The wines will be insured and I'll also be advising those who are new to it all about storage, resale, drinking windows etc.

During my regular emails (have you joined my mailing list?) I've tried to be as informative and objective as I can as each release emerged. I still kind of consider myself to be somewhere between a collector and a merchant and  endeavour to convey it from that middle ground. I did become a little cranky towards the end of the campaign! Probably a touch of cabin fever...some of the prices were making me hyperventilate and I was fielding a lot of information! The TBC Primeur office is a vibey place to hang! Multiple internet tabs, constant emails, score charts, tasting notes, Chateau bumf, price history charts, calls to and from France, sales calls and my sharp suited self, barking orders at minions with inferior palates...(part of this list isn't true) It felt like being in the eye of the storm but I did so enjoy the ride.

Obviously the biggest talking point became the prices. They were so much higher than anyone expected! This unfortunately, but understandably diverted the attention away from the supposed main event...the wines themselves! Sadly that has increasingly been the case...when folk are paying £13,000 EP a throw for brands, and buying scary amounts of them, the 12 cylinders of fragrant, alcoholic grape juice are certainly not the motivation. It's about hedging, hoarding, holding, harvesting (not grapes!) hard selling and hierarchy. Money stuff! For TBC, the practice of dangling tiny tranches of luxury goods in front of fat cats, via wide eyed traders, meant 'pas Lafite pour vous Monsieur James'. I hardly budgeted for it anyway, though a few 1st tranche cases would have been nice! No matter, I really enjoyed being involved with the Second Growth, mid and lower tier Medocs and top Right Bankers. Wines I'm more likely to drink! I managed to root out the very best of these this year. And what a year it was! I'm overjoyed with my own purchases and not in a resigned way. I think a lot of you guys will be too as we found some genuine value in a spectacular vintage. Though we did have to pay more for it, the undoubted quality shouldn't be forgotten. I want to bring in the Bordelais at this point as they made the juice, experienced the perfect weather and many wholehearted believe that the 09's are the best wines the region has ever produced. They aren't just saying it this time...I looked into their eyes and saw belief. My palate then agreed with them which only added weight to their claim. Now, If only I could afford that £2500...

I personally find the 1st Growth circus gloriously entertaining from the subs bench. I've no desire to rally against big playing hedgers and investors though. It's just a fact that top Bdx is a luxury, gleaming, branded, commodity and one that the Bordelais are not going to let escape from them any more without bloodying the odd nose. The funny thing is that, despite the highest ever release price of Lafite, the first 'blooded' were still pocketing double what they paid for it the next day! Touche! It really isn't about 'the greedy Bordelais'. It's about Business. Despite being expensive, the 09's have so far sold through like a good'un! Even for a mini mart (for now grrrr!) like myself. As to who the bulk has sold to, it remains unclear, but I don't think the Asian market entered the dance as much as predicted. A proportion is likely to have gone to hoarding brokers with eight figure (+) bank loans. They'll be hoping to sell these on (maybe to China?) when the wines are physical. Some will have gone to interested newcomers too...I've certainly experienced a fair bit of that at TBC. Also, no big surprise, but I suspect a lot has gone to European collectors who know what it means to hold the most esteemed wines from the the most esteemed vintages. Legends from a legend, the best of the best. That's why I gulped, but still bought my faves like Pichon Lalande and Vieux Chateau Certan, Lynch Bages, Leoville Barton etc I want to play toooo, but in a sensible, 'I'd like to go nuts but my responsibilities won't let me' kind of way! It really isn't clear how good a short term investment these wines will be (as the 05's were) but the longterm picture is far brighter.

If 2009 maintains the high perception level (and my gut feeling is it will) then the wine community may judge the Bordelais to not be completely unfounded in their attempt to re-fortify the brand. They may have just done us all a favour too, because previous vintages will now seem like a bargain (esp 06 & 08), while 09's hold and eventually increase in value."If you want the best, this is what you'll have to pay for it". They wanted to set a new benchmark as this was a great opportunity to do it. A new claim has been staked which some see as greed, others as business sense. I do think they are deliberately making previous vintages look tempting. The 09 bubble could indeed burst, but if the Bordelais have judged the longterm demand right, (the big question) it could also expand and strengthen, ushering in new pricing era with demand trickling down the scale. It will be fascinating to watch and I'm cautiously optimistic. Having said this, I do think it's very sad that Bordeaux fans are being priced out of their favourites, people who've supported these wines for years, including lean ones. Many budgeted for reasonable price rises, but still couldn't afford what they wanted! To these guys the Chateau pricing, and forces that move them afterwards, are comparable to the dark forces of Mordor! However, I have managed to remain pretty chirpy. When I look at my 09 drinking buys I think it's heartening that the £100-£400 range is still full of exquisite Clarets! I was sad to pass on Lafon Rochet this year (I'm sure I'll be back!), but Les Ormes de Pez more than made up for it!

So what would I advise to a newcomer to En Primeur? I suppose I can only say what I would do, and have done. I think I'm typical of the Bordeaux fan, in that I like to drink it and dream fondly of the OWC of gold & maroon labeled Batailley, actually arriving one day. However, I also like love the idea of owning an exquisite work of hand made art that could one day be worth some serious cashback. I therefore simply looked for the (relative) drinking bargains first, then added a few top enders that I could stretch to later on. I was really shocked at the money they wanted for them but mused that I still had to jump within reason. Further to this, with my merchant hat on, it was obviously important for me to increase and keep up allocations, if I possibly could. I need to be active in the great vintages, but I still said no to many offers. I certainly wasn't going to put TBC at risk for the sake of a few laughably priced Chateau like Cos or Ducru Beaucaillou. I may regret this, but I'll understand the decision I took.

So, post campaign, I feel slightly bruised but think pretty much as I did when I returned from Bordeaux...09 is amazing and worth buying into cautiously. I wouldn't hedge the house on it but I do want to own it. I think long term investors will do well. Short term investors may do OK....or not! Top vintages have to be purchased at some point if you want the finest examples of the craft. Drinkers will also not be disappointed so I'd advise just buying what you can afford. It's pretty much all good but watch one or two of the right bankers. There are still many excellent wines there and, if passed for now, these could be buys later on. Yes, I do think it is worth buying wines EP as, when the dust settles from the campaign, people will realise where the value is and snap up the remaining cases. They could therefore become scarce and more expensive. As I think I've said before, I bought supplies of Angludet & Batailley to last TBC years, but that's not going to happen now as I'll be sold out way before then! That'll be it, at the 1st tranche price!

So where's the value, what am I 'calling', what did fork I out for? Well, to name names, in the £90-£200 range, I would look to Fourcas Hosten (£99), Vieille Cure (£155), Lanessan (£115), Senejac (£115) La Dauphine (£138), Potensac (£175), Capbern Gasqueton (£140), Lilian Ladouys, Puygueraud (£99).

In the £200-£400 range, Cantemerle (£230,) Poujeaux (£205), D'Angludet (£219), Ormes de Pez (£238), Croix de Gay (£228), Batailley (£264), Kirwan (£399), Reserve de Comtesse (£318), Rouget, Phelan Segur (£265), La Pointe (£255), Du Tertre, Barde Haut, Larrivet Haut Brion (£218), La Dominique (£315), Clos L'Oratoire (£285), Tronquoy Lalande (£235), Grand Mayne (£295). This is my fave hunting ground!

In the £400-£1000 range, Leoville Barton, Langoa Barton (£440), Leoville Poyferre, Lynch Bages, Clerc Milon, Duhart Milon, Domaine de Chevalier.

In the £1000 + range, Pontet Canet, Pichon Lalande (£1440), Vieux Chateau Certan (£1900), Montrose, Lafite Rothschild (non, monsieur james!), Latour (non, monsieur james!).

Obviously I can only still supply the ones with prices next to them right now! As to whether the others will come back in stock, I'm not too sure. I don't like paying the naughty second tranche prices (I prefer going for back vintages at that point!) so I'll just be assessing any that come my way. If still priced at first tranche or very close I'll buy and offer. (Please note that this summary was written 1-7-10 and the most immediately up to date stock and prices are on the 2009 stocklist which I update everyday!) The wines I've picked are generally well scored and liked by more than just my own palate. As ever, it's always worthwhile having a mooch around for a wider opinion. I could have hunched wrong about all of this but it's likely that any corresponding wines are the buys! Interestingly, I've found that the overall quality level of Bordeaux has risen a fair bit in the last 15 years so labels that were not always buys in the 90's, are definitely becoming players now. Ormes de Pez & Phelan Segur are two examples.

There's just a couple more points I would like to make...sorry I'm aware this is getting long!...Firstly I believe that Robert Parker is getting more than a bit peeved that he is being exploited by a marketing machine he doesn't endorse. I'm actually wondering whether he may refuse to score Bordeaux in future (just review it), or mark it much later (after EP) or even pull away altogether and not go to Bordeaux. I think he has mostly called 09 right so far and I love reading his TN's. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing if he did pull away though, as it would certainly level the playing field! I agreed with RP that the Pichon Lalande was marginally better than the Pichon Baron (others didn't) but it was unsavoury to subsequently (key to this!) witness the €36 difference in negociant release price! The demand still seems to be there for Lalande but without the Parker score, the price differential wouldn't have been an issue. These wines need to find the right price level from wider favour and opinion. I seriously love Pichon Lalande and have preferred it to Pichon Baron since 2004. However...next year I have their card marked!

This brings me to my final point. The pricing of subsequent vintages: The EP 09's are dear but are possible legends in the making. The EP 08's were fairly priced for very decent wines. The 04's and 02's were lesser vintages but were again fairly priced by the Bordelais. The 05's were excellent wines, generally priced high, but that's been since proved a correct move. Mostly! These are examples of the Bordelais making pretty good calls. However, price wise, the 06's and 07's were well and truly misjudged up by our ungenerous, bungling hosts. Of course the Chateau did well themselves but caused mucho bad feeling across the wine world. Both 06 & 07 have had to be reduced to sell which may be a nice example of natural market forces at work, but is more than a bit irksome for any that bought them EP! I was able to sit out of these two vintages because I was yet to have any allocations to protect. I'm buying both only now, mainly 06's, but my first 07 this week. With the 2010's it will be a different story so I will very much be watching the Bordelais moves like a Peregrine Falcon! If they try and pedal an average vintage for too much then I'll be (sadly) sitting it out and advising you too as well. They did try to make amends with the 08's so I'm hopeful that they'll get it right. Everyone makes mistakes and my personal experience meeting the Bordelais has been nothing but exemplary so far. Yes, I am prepared to pay up for their heavyweight champion Clarets but, unless they priced as such, not for featherweights. I can find plenty of uses for them though. Lets just keep an eye on things eh?

Thanks for listening and even more for trusting me with your purchases if you did. It will only be a few months till the 08's arrive now...I can't wait to give those youngsters a wee run out and to deliver them to their homes. That will then be job done! To celebrate the end of this campaign, I think I'm going to pop something from 95 or 96 tonight...left bank...probably a Margaux but I won't know for sure till I'm at the coal face...I don't care if it's Clairet weather!