In March, Robert M. Parker Jr. finalized his scores on the 2009 vintage in bottle….a few months earlier than in past years. I was pretty much finished with the Campaign 2009….until that point! His scores caught many by surprise (18 wines finished with 100 points!) and needless to say, nearly every wine I still had to offer was scooped up within a day or two! So with the last of the 2009s gone, what do you have to look forward to?

2010: A (another) pivotal vintage…With Robert Parker blessing so many of the 2009s with 100 points, where does a rating go from there? The 2010s are wonderful, and look like they may give 2009 a run for the money. The major difference between the two is that the 2009s will be accessible sooner, where the 2010s are much more tannic and backwards, indicating a ‘vin de garde’ vintage, one for the cellar. Prices in 2010 were, again, record breaking, although, let’s be honest, that is as frequent as the vintage of the century song! Can’t wait till next year and see how the ratings pan out! I can say now, however, that I have a small amount of the 1st Growths still available at opening prices….Get them while you can, because in the Spring next year, you may well wish you did.

 2011: Futures and their future…So, finally, Bordeaux has to eat a bit of humble pie in 2011. The wines are turning out to be fine, but more like 2008, only for a bunch more money. Chateau  Lafite-Rothschild, which oddly was one of the first estates to open (NOT one of the first TOP estates to open, one of the first in the vintage!) offered their wine at prices about 30% less than last year. Apparently their thought was to price 2011 as the most affordable vintage currently available, to stimulate sales. Anyone not following suit is, at least at this early stage, is digging their own grave…..remember 1997? Cos d’Estournel opened at a very nice price (about half) compared to ’09 and ’10, but there are so many awesome vintages of this wine available now, drinking now, for less, why would anyone snap this up on the futures campaign? The exceptions are probably the First Growths, which, with severe selection on the sorting table, managed to still make wonderful 2011s. My feeling is that, besides the First Growths (and maybe a few of the super-seconds) 2011 will prove to be a vintage relegated to ‘a drinking vintage’ and for restaurants. Except in Sauternes…

Shayne Hebert

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