Buyers in China are still noticeably excited about their newfound wine market. For example, while most US auctions have on average around 60 buyers in the room, in Hong Kong the number is closer to 150. They are also becoming more educated about wines and palates are becoming more discerning. Some regions do still struggle in the Hong Kong market such as Italy and Champagne in particular. We were able to take advantage of this by picking up some legendary wines for discounts such as a case of 1973 Krug for $675 per bottle.

An important distinction we recently observed in Hong Kong is that fine wine is becoming more embedded into the wealthy Chinese culture. This is true not just in Hong Kong where auctions are taking place, but across the mainland. This type of cultural shift shows the staying power the wine market will have in Asia. It seems nearly impossible for it to sustain the growth trajectory it has had the past year, but prices for the finest wines will likely remain high for quite some time.

While the Chinese are clearly a driving force in the market, apparently there were a surprising number of new American bidders that stepped forward this fall. For many of the top wines, it was neck and neck between them and Asian buyers in the US auctions.

While the top First Growth Bordeaux were certainly some of the stars of the auctions, September saw a steep increase in prices for Second Growths as well. It is almost as if the world’s billionaires are driving the prices of the Firsts while the millionaires are pushing the Seconds forward. Items such as 1982 Leoville Las Cases selling for $11,950 per case and 1989 Lynch Bages selling for $4750 per case are not normal occurrences.

The retail market has yet to catch up to the auctions. Some retailers are savvy and immediately raised prices, but others tend to not pay much attention to recent auctions allowing for nice shopping opportunities. Immediately upon our return from Hong Kong the other week we purchased significant quantities of Bordeaux on behalf of our clients looking to invest. Wines such as 1995 Latour for $6000 per case can be considered steals in this market.

The demand for the greatest Bordeaux Chateaux in original wooden cases seems almost insatiable these days. How long the party will last is the big question. In the meantime, for our clients looking to actually drink their wines we have been finding good values in some of the more mature lots in odd bottle quantities. Regardless of market conditions, there are always buying opportunities when one has focus.

We look forward to following the continued development of the fine wine markets and offering our insights.

David Beckwith, Robert Bohr and Ned Benedict

We have yet to see the full impact of the 2009 Bordeaux futures campaign. Prices were higher than anyone thought possible with some wines opening nearly double their 2005 counterparts. The wines sold well out of the gate, but that was primarily due to the Chateaux releasing minuscule quantities causing demand to increase when buyers could not purchase significant amounts. Once this game became evident to the consumers – and prices simultaneously increased – the wines did not sell as briskly. Prices have been fairly consistent the past month.

The lack of summer auctions left retailers and brokers a bit up in the air with regard to pricing as they had no immediate gauge to use as a benchmark. This allowed for some bargains to be had especially with the recently released 2007 White Burgundies. Some of these wines are easily at the highest quality level White Burgundy can offer so it was a treat being able to secure them at excellent prices for our clients. Two particular examples of wines which we bought as much as we could access from reliable sources included the 2007 Montrachet Domaine de la Romanee Conti around $2300 per bottle and the 2007 Corton Charlemagne Coche-Dury around $995 per bottle. We feel these
two wines work very well from both consumption and investment positions as they were trading for significantly less than inferior older vintages from the 21st Century. The Coche-Dury also benefited buyers by having not yet been reviewed by Allen Meadows (aka Burghound).

Some retailers and brokers took the hard line of keeping prices high this summer. Needless to say, here we were not buyers unless something was particularly rare with pristine provenance such as immaculate bottles of 1971 La Tache Domaine de la Romanee Conti for $3800 per bottle. We feel that in today’s market, prices should reflect the current market value and not the potential market value.

As the first wine auctions of the season approach, broker activity and pricing has increased a bit especially in regard to Lafite Rothschild and other high quality wines in original wooden case. They seem to be betting that their prices will appear to be bargains after the auctions begin.

At the moment, the future of pricing is dependent on the global financial markets. As we saw in the fall of 2008, wine prices and stock markets are more correlated than ever before. Assuming international markets remain as is, prices will likely continue to slowly rise with the Hong Kong market breaking away and seeing higher gains than the New York market. Reasons include:

1) The continued flow of new buyers into the Asian fine wine market.
2) The stronger economic and financial conditions of the Asian countries compared to those of the US.
3) The 2009 Bordeaux setting a new precedent for pricing which will eventually cause more buyers to backfill on older vintages that are less expensive in comparison.

All that being said, we do expect certain producers and vintages to remain undervalued which we will continue to identify and purchase on behalf of our clients. We look forward to following the continued development of the fine wine markets and offering our insights.

Kind Regards,

David Beckwith, Robert Bohr and Ned Benedict

Grand Cru Wine Consulting recently had the opportunity to attend an extraordinary dinner featuring wines from 1945. As collectors know, 1945 was one of the greatest vintages of the century –and that is a not a term we use lightly. The 1945’s were always known to have incredible power, tannin, balance and longevity and luckily this evening proved all those points. This dinner had been in the works for quite some time and extra attention was made to sourcing wines only from reliable and pristine provenance. There was nervous anticipation leading up to the dinner as with wines that old, it all depends on the bottle. Happily, nearly every single wine fulfilled its promise. A few highlights are included below.

The evening began with some magnums of 1945 Champagne. The standouts were the Moet et Chandon and Pommery. The Moet had a soft and lovely mousse, aromas of toast, nuts and bubbles and a palate full of caramel and white fruits. As nice as the Moet was the Pommery was exponentially better. Pommerys from this era are a well-kept secret and vintages from the 40’s – 60’s have provided us with some of the most memorable aged Champagne experiences in our careers. Everything about the wine was fresh and intense with a good amount of vigor remaining. A real treat.

A 1945 d’Yquem recently sourced from an immaculate cellar was exquisite. While many d’Yquems from this era can appear overly sweet and top heavy, this bottle was very fresh and had even more elegance than expected. The feminine style was more in the realm of the 1975 and 1988 vintages as opposed to more robust ones such as 1959 and 1967. Everything was perfectly balanced in this lovely d’Yquem.

Next up was a flight of Red Burgundies that featured the 1945 Clos Vougeot Chateau de la Tour and 1945 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Vogue out of magnum. More on the latter momentarily, but first, the Clos Vougeot. Two bottles of this wine were opened and both were identical in quality – a rare experience with bottles this age proving once again that provenance is paramount. The wine had tremendous clarity in a medium bodied style. One could literally smell through the wine right down to the Burgundy dirt. Its flavors of soft red fruits, brown sugar and mushrooms was something to behold. The Vogue was quite simply a stunner of a wine. This bottle once again confirmed why this is one of the greatest wines made this century. In addition to having an enchanting nose full of fruit, briar patch, spice and earth, the finish would not quit for over a minute. It gripped the palate with its mouth filling aromas and demanded respect and attention. A breathtaking wine. Wow.

Next we moved in for some Bordeaux. While all were stunning, our particular favorites included the following: the 1945 Latour was very interesting because one bottle was an original release while the other was re-conditioned. The nose on the re-conditioned bottle was more inviting while the palate on the original had longer staying power and complexity. Beside these was the immortal 1945 La Mission Haut Brion out of magnum. With just one whiff you could tell this wine was on another level. In fact, it was arguably the Bordeaux of the evening. It contained all of the style one hopes for in aged La Mission with intense tar, cigar, earth, iron and red and dark fruits. The attack on the palate was superb tucking in for a long and lingering finish. A La Fleur Petrus magnum was perhaps the purest and most Burgundian of all the Bordeaux. It had a unique profile of rugged red fruits, caramel and earth. What it lacked in balance it more than made up for in character.

This was followed by a unique pairing that worked surprisingly well together from an intellectual standpoint: bottles of 1945 Barolo Monfortino Riserva Giacomo Conterno and 1945 La Tache Domaine de la Romanee Conti. The Monfortino was clearly from a bygone era as the color was more akin to a rust rose than a Barolo we are familiar with from current vintages. The aromatics combined earth, cheese and subdued fruit in an aged package. While these flavors working together may sound odd, they somehow synced to make for the most delicate wine of the evening. The La Tache was what we hoped for from such an legendary producer in this vintage. Amazingly enough, both bottles purchased from the same source were again nearly identical with one having a bit more power. The nose showed amazing precision and clarity while the palate had wonderful energy for such a 65 year old wine. While it obviously showed it was an aged wine, it had a laid back elegance that set it apart. This was clearly a “stop everything and enjoy” kind of wine and for us was right up there with the Vogue and La Mission with wines of the night.

The evening ended with a wonderful 1945 Taylor Fladgate, one of the greatest Ports ever made. It was drinking perfectly and very expressive. The palate had a luscious juicy core that tapered off to a dusty finish full of lip smacking sweetness.

All in all, a wonderful evening that will need to be repeated in 5 years for the vintage’s 70th Anniversary!

CHAVE 6/29/09

We meet Roberto Conterno, Ceylan Tumgoren, and 6 of the best steaks we’ve ever tasted – all from Piedmont - at Jean Louis Chave’s new St Joseph holding just before lunch. Richard Betts and JL’s wife Erin rolled in minutes later and we took a quick tour because of the heat and a pending lunch reservation.

For the uninitiated, Chave is THE place to taste in the Northern Rhone, and besides his unparalleled Hermitages he has been on a mission to elevate the St Joseph appellation to it’s maximum potential.

The new domaine has a perfect mid-slope parcel call ‘le croissant’ and we’ll be paying close attention to these wines as they have lots of untapped potential and are now in the hands of the master. Off to lunch at a little place in Mauve with two female chef-owners that somehow manage to get good fish on the menu despite being in the middle of a landlocked tiny town. Lunch is good, the wines are tasty, when we notice Roberto – who is speaking to a well known globe-trotting consulting agronomist who joined our table - has veins popping out on the sides of his neck. This is all taking place in Italian, and evidently the soil maven has some rather spicy views on grapes that could and should be grown in Piedmont. No more fireworks came from this exchange, but it was interesting to see that Roberto was not willing to suffer intervention easily. We went on to taste the 2007 Hermitage by individual parcel (before the final blend) – always a treat to taste here and one of the best visits in the wine world. We had to hit the road to Burgundy so we only had time for a few older bottles including his 2006 Hermitage Rouge. This has always been a personal favorite and I asked if it reminded him of another vintage – he likes it a lot and compared it to his 1991…schwing!! Headed up to Beaune and a late dinner at Ma Cuisine. Had a delicious ’01 Rougeot from Coche (the Coche value wine) and a ’99 Bonnes Mares from Roumier.

BURGUNDY 6/30/09

Heavy tasting lineup in the Cotes de Nuits with lots of Big Lumber. First off is Fred Mugnier who’s in a fine mood with a long weekend planned (no Ma Cuisine Party for Fred, he leaves tomorrow). Like many domaines, his 2008 reds are still going through late malos, making them especially challenging to evaluate…but that’s our job. There was plenty of rain in August and the beginning of September, and most producers were worried about rot breaking out in the vineyards. I think it’s easy to say that most of the top producers are extremely happy about how the 2008 vintage has turned out relative to their expectations. As pleased as they are, I think some may be erring on the conservative side as we may find some pretty serious wines coming out of this vintage. Fred compares his 2008’s to his 01’s but better – if you’ve had the pleasure of being exposed to his 01’s recently, those are very soothing words. His Chambolle Musigny Amoureuses was finished with it’s malo and absolutely delicious…unfortunately he also made about 60% of his usual production of this already impossible to find cuvee.

Next up was a relatively quick tasting at DRC. Both Aubert de Villaine and cellar master Bernard Noblet were in fine form (Noblet even leaned over at one point a la Herman Munster and supplied the word ‘racking’ for Aubert – no slouch with the English language – which was pretty funny) and we had an impressive first look at the 2008’s out of barrel. Again the malos were a little intrusive and it’s tough to make any conclusive statements, but suffice is to say the wines will be as good as always and the RC should be spectatcular. “Dude, I am super excited about the wines.  I think they all showed great pedigree and promise.  The site-specificity was tremendous and they have the stuffing and verve that says they will be something very special…I look forward to drinking your allocation.” R Betts

We stopped by Domaine Dujac with our Italian steaks for lunch, and ran into a full fledged dining experience. We thought we were just going to cook out on the grill (by the pool), But Roz and Jacques Seysses decided it was too hot out and whipped up a full scale lunch complete with meat and potatoes. Jeremy torched the steaks to perfection out side on the grill (with a clever French combination of charcoal and wood) and generously opened a couple of magnums, 1983 La Chapelle and 1995 Clos St Denis – staggeringly good!. It goes without saying that Roberto’s steaks did not make the trip in vain and a Seysses invitation should never be ignored.

Up next was a visit with Louis Michel Liger-Belair, one of the most historic estates in Burgundy, and now arguably one of the top 10 producers. His domaine is across the street from DRC and he produces perhaps the only wine that can compete with their exalted line up…La Romanee. LMLB took over the estate in 2000 and has raised the bar at an incredible pace – with his additional new vineyards on long term leases he’s put himself squarely in the middle of the conversation – and he’s not shy about it. First off was 2008 Vosne Romanee Clos du Chateau from the back yard and as usual this wine was singing! Only a village wine, but it defies its appellation and during the Paulee last year in NYC we tasted a vertical of this wine back to 2001 at Eleven Madison Park that was extra special. 2008 Nuits St Georges Les Lavieres – a new leased vineyard with 95 year old vines – is from the Vosne side of Nuits and shows great intensity. The 2008 Nuits Les Cras had great intensity – like a laser beam in the mouth. My favorite wine from this cellar,  the 2008 Vosne Romanee Reignots, showed it’s usual all around complexity and depth – an exciting wine and LMLB says it has an extra dimension this year and has reached a new level in his cellar. This is a notable departure for LMLB who usually reserves any praise solely for La Romanee (which along with the Echezeaux was difficult to taste at this point in the malos).

Last appointment of the day was with good friend Christophe Roumier who was recovering from a torn tendon he suffered in a mountain biking accident. The 2008 lineup showed off another in a seemingly unbroken string of  seamless, effortlessly balanced vintages here. The wines were still in various states of malo, but the Chambolle Musigny, Chambolle Les Cras, and Ruchottes Chambertin  all showed the usual refined Roumier touch. The 2008 Bonnes Mare Terres Rouge (separate red soil cuvee before the ultimate blend) was fabulous and and should be the foundation for another great Roumier Bonnes Mares. Finally we tasted the rare 2008 Musigny which showed amazing persistence and echoed the other great wine of the day, the Romanee Conti from DRC. We went down to the cellar for a tasting of some 2007’s out of bottle – Chambolle Musigny, Chambolle Combottes, and Les Cras – all tasting fabulously well. BTW Cristophe compared his 07’s to his 1985’s!! Don’t pass on 2007 Roumier if you have the opportunity. Just as we started in on the big boys the lights cut and went outside to see the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever seen in Burgundy. Dinner was all the classics at Le Gourmandin in Beaune – the best food I’ve ever tasted there – along with two bottles of  2004 Meursault Perrieres from Coche-Dury. Big smile.

MA CUISINE PARTY 7/01/09

Today is the day of our producer party at Ma Cuisine, but first Robert and I follow Richard Betts for a run in the Haute Cotes de Nuits. It was hot and very humid, but luckily before Richard could kill us off we had to get back for an appointment with Jean Marc Roulot. We were looking forward to this tasting – the combination of the sensational 2007 white vintage and one of our favorite Burgundy producers was a real treat. The first sip of his Bourgogne Blanc and we were all convinced. JM said that “07 is more harmonious than 04” – a very strong statement considering how delicious his 2004’s are right now. All the Meursaults from the Vireuils to the Luchets – “very Roulot” – to the Tillets, Tessons and Poruzots were fabulous and terroir specific. The Perrieres will be great and hard to find. We asked the famously self-critical JM if he was happy with the vintage…and for once he has no complaints. 2007 Roulot will be a benchmark vintage for him.

After lunch at Le Gourmandin (again) we were of to Dujac (again) this time to taste with Jeremy Seysses and some old classmates of his from Oxford. We started with the 2007 Morey, then moved to the Gevrey Chambertin Combottes which has fabulous concentration. 2007 Vosne Romanee les Malconsorts (new vineyard for Dujac in 2005 from the old Moillard estate) is from a sensational parcel and will be superb. The Grand Crus were a little closed up yet so comments will have to be reserved. Jeremy made up for it by opening up both the 2001 Clos St Denis and Clos de la Roche which were singing – get them if you can.

We stopped by Chambolle to pick up C Roumier so he wouldn’t have to drive on his bad leg. Off to Ma Cuisine for our party where we were expecting Christope Roumier,   Alix DeMontille, Ben Leroux, Kellen Lignier, Jeremy Seysses, Diana Seysses, Marie Christine Mugneret, LM Liger-Belair, Etienne DeMontille, David Croix, Dominique Lafon, Alex Moreau, Jacques Bavard, JM Roulot and guest star – Roberto Conterno. Fabienne & Pierre worked their magic with a fabulous meal – the doors open and picture perfect weather. Richard,  Robert and I did the wine service…6L Pommery Cuvee Louise, magnum 1995 Chablis Les Clos  Raveneau, magnum 2000 Meursault Perrieres Roulot,  Jero 2000 Chassagne Montrachet Maltroie Moreau, magnum Puligny Champs Canet Ramonet, Jero! 2004 Montrachet Drouhin, magnum 1985 Savigny Les Beaune Vergelesses, magnum 1985 Clos de Lambrays, magnum 1993 Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques Fourrier, magnum 1974 Mascarello Barolo Monprivato, magnum 1991 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. Many thanks to Roy Welland, Don Stott, Greg Powell and Brian Orcutt for their generous donations!

07/02/09

We got off to a very slow start but made up for it with a very impressive tasting at Sauzet with Gerard Boudot’s son-in-law Benoit. From the village wine on they were uniformly racy, with great acidity and mouth feel. I’d never been here before (for no particular reason), and it’s amazing to taste this many great vineyards in a row from one domaine – Champs Canet, Combettes, Bienvenues, Batard (2 stars), Chevalier, and Montrachet! Robert and I were ready to place an order before the tasting was even over. For those of you who have forsaken Sauzet over the last decade – it’s time to make amends.

Next up was a tasting with David Croix. David has gotten some attention since taking over as winemaker at Camille Giroud with the 2001 vintage, and he’s added his own domaine to the conversation – Domaine de Croix – starting with the 2005 vintage. He make five reds and on white here, and all the wines reflect the maker – easy going, balanced, but intense- you have to pay attention. David makes one of the best Bourgogne Rouges in the business, and the 2007 was delicious – declassified premier cru Beaune vineyards will do that. Unfortunately he makes very little and I rarely see it for sale. The 2007 Beaune Pertuizots was pretty and juicy, and paved the way for his two best wines. The Beaune Greves comes from a top Beaune vineyard site and David’s has plenty of ripeness, power and length in 2007. His Beaune Bressandes always has an extra degree of finesse and refinement. He makes a little Corton Charlemagne, and the 07 is the best so far – too early to say much about it but not bad for a red wine guy.

We went off to Bouilland  for dinner to visit Becky Wasserman, her husband Russell Hone, and son Peter. Russell whipped up a delicious pintade and we cooled off with a couple of soothing bottles of Bouzeron. A few glasses of 100 year-old calvo set us straight and we were off to the US the next day.

Stay tuned…we’re booked for another trip in November during the Hospices de Beaune, and the list of domaines we are tasting at will be extraordinary.