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2000 Bordeaux - Go Big or Go Home

Written By: Kasey Carpenter on Friday, March 28, 2008

A look at some interesting wine trends in both small and large Château wines.

Just going over some of the results from the recent flurry (the last thirty days) of auction activity, and I couldn't help but notice some rather interesting, if not disturbing, trends:

Château Figeac 2000 12 bottles $900 -32 %
Château Lascombes 2000 12 bottles $480 -33%
/> Château Clinet 2000 12 bottles $480 -35%

Château La Fleur de Boüard 2000 12 bottles ** $1,452 +109 %

Château Margaux 2000 12 bottles $20,570 +69 %
Château Cheval-Blanc 2000 12 bottles $15,600 +25 %
Château La Mission-Haut-Brion 2000 12 bottles $10,200 +20 %
Château Trotanoy 2000 12 bottles $4,235 +87 %
Château Le Pin 2000 12 bottles $52,360 +44 %
Château Haut-Brion 2000 12 half bottles* $4,183 +77 %
Château Tertre Roteboeuf 2000 6 bottles $2,151 +80 %

*Half bottles can fetch higher prices than standard 750ml bottles due to scarcity, restaurant demand, smuggle-ability, and the novelty of being able to enjoy a bottle of wine without having to drain the whole bottle (why???). Above figures were from a 30-day period of auction activity from the major auction houses.

So what this tells us, and what it tells me, is that the window for those inexpensive 2000's, which we thought would be a great entry point to futures trading, has closed.

But why is this so, if those wines are still highly rated and still have decades to go as far as drinkability and maturity?

I can't really nail down the reason for this. The big boys, as you can clearly see, are still going strong. Granted, they draw more attention, but they also command a higher premium when it comes to ownership.

**The one caveat to the whole group above is the 2000 Fleur de Boüard, which started out as a relatively inexpensive bottle of Bordeaux, and has slowly crept up in company with the big boys. But even at retail these days, you will see this wine has now priced itself, and not without merit, out of the more affordable wines we often hear of referred to as QPR (Quality Price Ratio) values, and on into rarer air.

Part of me thinks that these lesser-knowns--we'll call them the "little boys"--were bought for consumption while awaiting the big boys to mature in drinkability or in value. Which means that the desire to obtain them now is far less voracious than the hunt for their siblings. That having been said, if they are all being consumed (and when I go to a tasting, they are there three to one over the big boys) then you would expect them to begin showing signs of scarcity. Part of that problem is that this hasn't been shown as of yet, and we all know that these little boys are produced in greater number than the big boys.

So for now, I'd sit on and/or drink those lesser-known chateaux, and continue to sit on the big boys. But keep your eye on those auctions: I bet some of these consumable wines will begin to show signs of scarcity. And with the continual upward trend in new releases of Bordeaux, it will make sense to spend the same money on a lesser known with some age versus the same chateau's new release at the same price or more.

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