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Biggest Winners (MoM):
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Chateau Troplong Mondot Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2016
+12.8%
Chateau Troplong Mondot Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2009
+9.8%
Chateau Troplong Mondot Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2012
+6.8%
Among the biggest winners of the Liv-Ex Right Bank 100, Château Troplong Mondot topped the list with the three vintages above. Nonetheless all of their most recent vintages performed quite well — except for 2013 (-0.5% MoM and -4.3% on a 5-year performance).
The market perhaps believed that the rumoured promotion of Château Troplong Mondot was a done deal?
Château Canon was the other rumoured to be upgraded to Premier GCC “A“. In the last three years, Canon outpaced the Right Bank 100 by 5% — probably thanks to its stellar scores among Bordeaux critics.
Biggest Losers (MoM):
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Chateau Pavie Premier Grand Cru Classe A, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2014
-10.1%
Chateau Pavie Premier Grand Cru Classe A, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2013
-8.5%
Clos Fourtet Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2015
-4.9%
While Château Pavie (Premier GCC “A”) ‘off-vintages‘ 2013 and 2014 suffered, their 2015 (+2.1%) and 2016 (+6.1%) saw large gains in the month. Clos Fourtet also had mixed results on the secondary market — with their 2009 and 2015 continuing to be in negative territory, while the other, most recent vintages seeing gains.
🔴 “Château Figeac sets new trading highs following promotion“ (Liv-Ex)
As to be expected, Liv-Ex reports that “Bordeaux’s trade share rose, as the 2022 revision of the Saint-Émilion classification threw the region into the spotlight, and Saint-Émilion (22.3%), enjoyed heightened demand”.
Most traded vintages — 2013, followed by 2008, 2019 and 2020 which also set new price records.
Source: Liv-Ex
🔴 “Château Ausone 2017 was this week’s top traded wine“ (Liv-Ex)
Weird, isn’t it? While Figeac has enjoyed increased demand since its promotion, it was Château Ausone that led this week’s trade with its 2017 vintage.
The vintage remains available below its release price — and so are the 2016 and 2018 vintages. Although Liv-Ex reported that the impact of Cheval Blanc, Ausone and Angélus’ withdrawal on their secondary market prices was negligible, perhaps market forces will feel differently once their labels will stop carrying the PREMIER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ ‘A’?
🔴 “St Emilion Vineyard Market: The price of classification“ (janeanson.com)
Alex Hall of Vineyard Intelligence penned a piece on Jane Anson about the prices of St Emilion land and the consequences of the re-classification.
Price per hectare range from €300,000 up to €6 million. Prices on the limestone plateau, even for unclassified land, begins at around €1 million per hectare, with classified land closer to €3 million.
“The “dynamic” nature of the St-Emilion classification, which is renewed every 10 years, is both a strength and a weakness.” Hall notes that “The St-Emilion classification is, by design, not an exclusive club – a future Premier Grand Cru Classé estate may not even exist today.”
Interesting upgrades
🔴 Clos Dubreuil
Source: Clos Dubreuil
Among the 15 promotions, perhaps the most exciting (aside the predictable Figeac) is Clos Dubreuil.
Benoit Trocard purchased this small St. Emilion estate in 2002, starting with 1.5ha of vines and built it up, buying further plots around the limestone plateau in St-Christophe-des-Bardes. Up at 90 metres at its highest point, the soils have clay at a depth of between 1 to 2.5 metres over limestone.
Source: Saturnalia ($)
In her book, Inside Bordeaux, Jane Anson writes:
“I love this place. Trocard is a brilliant winemaker, and I love that he is not afraid to push things in unexpected directions - and then finds that he has set a course that everyone else wants to follow. (Chardonnay for one, which he planted back in 2010 and that has since been enthusiastically taken up by an increasing number of winemakers, from Ch de Thieuley in Entre-deux-Mers to La Gaffelière just down the road in St-Emilion).
[…] The resulting wine tends to be rich, glossy, full of flavour and with the impact that you'd expect in a Grand Cru that's priced higher than many Grands Crus Classés (although, as is the case in so many estates here, the flavours have been sculpted from the early days when this was 95 per cent Merlot).”
Their more recent bottled vintage 2019 was upscored to 94 from the En Primeur. You can find a summary of thier scores on Bordoverview.
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