Reese,
I checked over the phone with my friend Jean-Pierre Robineau in Paris (l'Angevin); It seems that flowering times were extremely uneven in june, so that when september came for harvesting, some grapes were black, while others (50% sometimes) were still pink. Jean-Pierre could not differentiate at this time between Medoc/Pomerol/St Emilion/Graves/etc.
I think that one should stay cautious about 1997 vintage on Bordeaux, and check property by property how wines finally came out. I shall try to get some more information and post it later.
Thinking as an investor, I think that we are in a price "bubble" for Bordeaux wines, and that Far East friends have been buying too heavily (some really big VIPs learned that red wine was good for bad cholesterol, which is desperately true <g>, and kind of went on a big cut off on Cognac), then they got their financial crisis, etc.
I would stay away from 1997 primeurs (futures), and wait for great bargains on earlier vintages if this bubble bursts. I still remember the fantastic bargains following 1975 (?) Cruze scandal, where you could buy a 1971 Haut-Brion (Bordeaux/Graves/1st growth classified, exceptionnally while being a non-Medoc, in 1855) for $13...
Please read all of this as a personal opinion, as Ibexx would say.
Regards,
MiB |
