BORDEAUX 2022 VINTAGE FAILED TO CAPITALISE ON POTENTIAL AT THIS YEAR’S EN PRIMEUR

•  Average price hike for 2022 Bordeaux vintage was 20%
•  The most successful releases included Château Cheval Blanc, Château Beychevelle and Château Lafleur

This year’s En Primeur failed to convert excitement for the 2022 Bordeaux vintage to sales despite great expectations among critics.

LONDON, July 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — WineCap’s Bordeaux 2022: Unfulfilled Potential report delves into the reasons why the campaign didn’t quite deliver on hopes and the event’s place within the industry in coming years.

While more attendees travelled to En Primeur to taste the hotly anticipated vintage, price hikes had tasters turning to older vintages of comparable quality available at lower prices. While merchants expected price increases of 7.7%, the average growth was between 15% and 25%, with some wines going up as high as 55%.

Moreover, the average in-barrel Wine Advocate scores for the 2022 vintage (94.6) were lower than their average in-bottle scores for the 2019 (94.9), 2018 (95.2) and 2016 (95.1).

Although not the result expected, there were some winners for 2022. The most successful releases, which sold out upon offer, included Château Cheval Blanc, Château Beychevelle, Château Lafleur, Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Château Brane-Cantenac, the First Growths and some Second Wines like Carruades de Lafite. The brands took into consideration existing appetite, vintage quality and, most importantly, offered value compared to physically available back vintages.

Top 10 best-performing Bordeaux brands

Source: WineTrack 2023 

Recent En Primeur campaigns have highlighted that buying early is not a must for investing in Bordeaux; instead, a selective approach is required, based on a brand’s overall performance and vintage quality.

While there is potential for price appreciation when buying En Primeur, there is no guarantee that the wines will increase in value. If stock remains unsold, collectors can often find wines with considerable bottle age at the original release prices or lower, like in vintages 2006 and 2011. This goes against the original premise of En Primeur.

Alexander Westgarth, CEO at WineCap said: “While the 2022 Bordeaux vintage didn’t perform at En Primeur, critics were excited by it, with many commending winemakers for overcoming challenging weather conditions to produce a quality vintage on par with 2018, 2019 and 2020.

“There is no doubt that Bordeaux 2022 is a fantastic vintage. But given how high the release prices are, it is very hard for me to fully recommend purchasing these wines today, when you can buy equally great vintages such as 2019 and 2016 in bottle, and sometimes even mature classics like 2009 and 2010 at better prices. I fully expect many of the 2022s to be available to purchase for less money in the future.”

To read WineCap’s full report please visit https://wp.winecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WineCap_Bordeaux_2022_Report.pdf 

¹ Qualitative research undertaken with senior representatives of 32 leading wine producers in Bordeaux during June and July 2022

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