Bordeaux 2011 – Climens – and the wait for Robert Parker

by Charles Lea

Bordeaux 2011 – Climens – and the wait for Robert Parker

Its been a busy week for releases, although you might not know it because a lot of ‘filtration’ has been going on at our end so that we offer on only the wines which look interesting. But the idea that this was going to be over quickly seems to be fading.

One might hope that ‘Bordeaux’ is slowly coming to its senses and that those responsible for setting prices might realise that what we as the trade have been asking for, namely releases (significantly) below the currently market price of comparable vintages, is the only way that the campaign is really going to get going. Of course there is more than a little reluctance actually to make this leap.

This afternoon will see the release of Robert Parker’s scores for the vintage, (www.erobertparker.com) and Neal Martin’s notes will also be published on the same site. We hear that Bob thought the wines ‘better than expected’, but we do not think that anything we says will change anything in the preceding paragraph. Maybe next week will see some releases that will ignite things.

Today’s big release is the gorgeous wine of Climens, and like the other Sauternes, this is offered in cases of 12 halves at the same price as cases of six bottles. Also out is Bernadotte, a good value if slightly strait-laced Haut Médoc from the Pichon Lalande team.