Cork or screwcap? Synthetic or crown cap? While many producers decide to make the switch based on how it will affect the wine in the bottle, one Bordeaux producer is asking their customers what they want.
Strange as it may seem to some traditional producers, wine is ultimately about the consumer and Gavin Quinney at Chateau Bauduc seems to have cottoned on to that. Involve your customers in a major decision and it can only serve to make them more loyal to the brand.
I received an email from Gavin asking me to vote on corks vs screwcaps for their whites, reds and roses. On Baudoc’s blog,
they’ve put the main arguments up for and against both closure types so those who are not au fait with the geeky closures debate can make an informed decision.
I placed my vote, saying screwcaps for whites and rose and, corks for reds if they’re going to be laid down for a while. I admit it’s a little bit hypocritical to put your whites and pinks under one closure and then put your reds under another. It could look like a lack of faith in screwcaps. However, Bordeaux is such a traditional winemaking region, a red under screwcap is still poo-poohed.
It’s important for Bauduc to alter their bottling preparation if they are going to switch from corks to screwcaps to avoid problems of rotten egg/smelly drain syndrome a.k.a reduction. Plus consumers in different markets should be considered. Screwcaps do have a high level of acceptance in the UK but head to the US or Japan and it’s another story. One size does not fit all.
Voting takes place until 24 January and there’s no complicated proportional representation voting system, it’s simply first past the post. Very British.
I’ll keep you updated on the big decision when it’s announced.
Following the demise of Sauternes property Chateau Broustet and its sale to an Italian buyer in late September, it’s all guns blazing for the family’s other property Chateau Saint-Marc.
Export and marketing manager, Guillaume Forcade had fought valiantly to save his family’s chateau with savvy marketing and sales. He had packaged some of the estate’s wines in test tubes and the brand had become involved in Vogue and Mercedes parties but it was too little too late and he is now concentrating his efforts on Saint-Marc.
The wine will be available in tubes during French Tuesdays in San Francisco. Whether you drink it “from the tube or slipped inside a handbag”, it’s certainly a different approach for a very traditional appellation. No glass; no foie gras? God forbid, the wrinklies won’t like it.
However, the whole sweet wine market faces an uphill battle with sales in freefall. The French have cut their Sauternes consumption from 83,536hl in 1999/2000, to 54,477hl in 2008/09. The appellation’s vineyard area has fallen from 4139ha to 3773ha in the same period. At the very least, it’s going to take young blood with new ideas to stem the tide. Good luck to them, they are going to need it.
Suspicions that the 2008 Mouton-Rothschild label would be designed by a Chinese artist were confirmed last week.
Prices have been creeping up in the past 12 months amid the speculation. Since Xu Lei was announced as the artist, prices went up 20% overnight. According to Fine & Rare Wine’s market data tool (frw.co.uk), a year ago, you could pick up the 96 Parker point wine for £2800; now you’re looking in the region of £8750. A 211% rise in value.
The Mouton move followed Chateau Lafite’s announcement that the 2008 vintage would feature the Chinese number eight symbol on the bottle. The wine’s value has since surged. In the past twelve months, the price has increased from £4857 to £15,303– a rise of 215%.
Which brings me to ask the question – why aren’t other producers doing the same thing? A New World producer with some traction in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai would be pretty smart to follow the likes of Mouton and Lafite. If a Kiwi winery – say Craggy Range, Te Mata or Villa Maria employed the services of a Chinese artist or designer for their top Bordeaux blend (Sophia, Coleraine and Twyford Single Vineyard respectively) it woud be incredible PR - increasing awareness, sales and possibly prices. Surely, it couldn’t be that difficult and a cost benefit analysis would no doubt conclude benefit benefit benefit.
The end of Broustet but new beginnings for Ch Saint-Marc?
Guillaume Forcade is a dynamic young man who has spent the past year trying to save his family’s chateau from going under. He was too late.
The Barsac estate was sold on September 30th to an Italian buyer, Taillan, which owns wine merchant Ginestet and a number of Bordeaux chateaux including Gruaud Larose and Chasse Spleen.
It is sad for the company since Forcade had been working his butt off to raise the company’s profile and injecting a breath of fresh air into the appellation. He had packaged some of the estate’s wines in test tubes and the brand had become involved in Vogue and Mercedes parties.
Forcade said: “It is difficult to accept the end when the latest developments we made to improve the quality, the brand and the export market were finally giving extremely good results.” It was too little too late.
The sale reflects a malaise in Sauternes/Barsac. The domestic market is the most important for Sauternes, representing more than 70% of all sales. The French have cut their Sauternes consumption from 83,536hl in 1999/2000, to 54,477hl in 2008/09. The appellation’s vineyard area has fallen from 4139ha to 3773ha in the same period.
Forcade added: ‘It is incredibly sad but selling Sauternes has been very difficult for all of us in the appellation. For a grand cru classé owner like my family, who bought the estate with the help of banks, the huge debts have been just too difficult to face with the economic downturn the whole region of Sauternes has endured for the past ten years.”
The average consumer is over 60 years old (CIVB research) and it needs to find new drinkers. It also needs to encourage all consumers to see sweet wine as a year-round drink – not just for Christmas. Sweet Bordeaux is trying to do this. But with little marketing money, limited awareness of their consumer base and a plethora of marketing/organisational bodies within the small appellation, it’s not going to be an easy task.
The Forcade family are still the owners of Château Saint-Marc, the immediate neighbour of Château Broustet, an estate in the family since the 18th century.
Despite the setback, Forcade is not giving up. He promises blog pages, video teasers and launching Saint-Marc wine in tubes in the US at the end of November. The sun may have set on Broustet but I suspect Saint-Marc is entering a new dawn if Forcade has anything to do with it.
Nick Pegna, MD of Berry Bros & Rudd in Hong Kong a.k.a Lord of Asia has his 60 seconds to discuss Bordeaux 2009, the Hong Kong wine scene and drunken prawns.
