As global wine director for the auction house, Sotheby’s, Jamie Ritchie knows a thing or two about wine prices and where the bargains are.
“I think the price of Burgundies is high, I thing the price of California wines is high,” he says, “but I think the price of Bordeaux relatively is too low.” Are we talking about the same wine that has Britain’s wine trade in a panic each spring when the prices to negoçiants of classified growths are announced after the en primeur barrel tastings are held? “I think it’s pretty much across the board,” Ritchie told Meininger’s this week. “Bordeaux is the best price value across the board.”
But it wasn’t always the case, Ritchie says.
“The 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux were highly priced,” he notes, “but since then there has been a gradual price decline over the years.” How much of this decline has been a result of the Bordeaux beatings inflicted annually by the British media, given there isn’t a similar price-setting event in Burgundy and other premium wine regions to draw attention? Ritchie declined to lay blame, but allowed, “It’s all part of the overall effect on the market.”
Roger Morris
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