While tasting at the recent Bordeaux 2009 Primeurs, I was intrigued by the parade of Chinese buyers at virtually every chateau I visited.
There were two things at play, as I soon became aware. First, the Bordelais recognize the potential size of the China wine market. Only the Brits had more representation from the wine trade at Primeurs, and the chateau owners were aggressively working the Chinese, who’ve never before embraced the concept of buying en primeurs. Second, the Bordelais are very nervous about the U.S. market.
Whether or not the Americans would buy the ’09 Primeurs was very much on everyone’s mind, coupled with the wish/hope/prayer that the Chinese might take up the slack.
The conventional wisdom on the weakness of Bordeaux in the U.S. market is focused, understandably, on the economy. But I see it differently. From my Creators Syndicate column this week, headlined The Gathering Storm Over Bordeaux in America:
The euphoria I understood. It was the last week of March and the first week of April, and the world’s most famous wine region, Bordeaux, was overflowing with enthusiastic professional wine merchants from around the globe.
More than 6,000 trade and press — record numbers for each — showed up on cue to taste and evaluate the highly acclaimed 2009 vintage. Bordeaux, despite stagnant inventories from the less attractive 2007 and 2008 vintages, was suddenly the darling of the wine world again.
Life is good in Bordeaux, one would assume. And one would be wrong.
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