The Business of Bordeaux w/ William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Continuing our two-part episode, William Kelley, Deputy Editor of The Wine Advocate, expounds on the evolution of the business elements of Bordeaux. From La Place de Bordeaux to wine critics' score compression, Williams shares his view on how these institutions are changing and evolving their place in Bordeaux and how that impacts big and small chateaux. Detailed Show Notes: La Place de BordeauxLatour's leaving the en primeur system, but not La Place, did not have a meaningful impact, outside of when the wine is delivered, and did not tempt anyone else to leave en primeur or La PlaceFocused on the Top ~50-150 Bordeaux winesNow represents several non-Bordeaux wines, giving a bit more glamor for negociants to sellMore consolidation is happening in the negociant spaceNegociants now do not have the time nor capital to care about "petite" chateauxSeveral business models emerging, including high margin or high turnover with less inventory keptNot a great way to build durable customers (e.g., may sell in Korea one year and Costco in Wisconsin the next)Petite chateaux - need to differentiate and find direct distribution to be successfulImplications of health trends, consumers drinking lessWine with great personality continues to benefitBulk wines, lower-end wines struggling (e.g., lower-end Bordeaux wines, petite chateaux)Wine CriticsScores are getting inflated and compressed - lots of new critics are coming around and pushing scores upWilliam believes a more credible review is more worthwhile than high scores on their ownE.g., Burgundy doesn't get high scores, yet sells very wellWilliam publishes en primeur scores before the 1st release, therefore can't tell if they have any impact on pricingNext for BordeauxThe 2019 vintage had lots of good deals with Covid impacts and price increases of Burgundy, making people interested in Bordeaux againThe region needs to get people back to Bordeaux who have given up on it Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.