From the 20th of this month, the en primeur week will begin. The elite of Bordeaux wines approach this event with a certain anxiety. The problem does not come from the quality of the vintage: it is there and, even if 2025 is perhaps not quite an exceptional vintage like 2022, it is nevertheless excellent. The concern is commercial — and it is very far from being solely Bordeaux’s. Red wines the world over are hit by a fall in consumption. Vitisphère thus revealed, in an article of 11 December last, that Californian winegrowers, to adapt to this fall in sales, pulled up 15,000 hectares of vines last year, while 20 to 30% of the grapes were not harvested. Australian winegrowers have also considerably reduced the size of their vineyards. The Bordeaux grands crus are rare products; the problem is therefore not posed in the same terms. However, the last two sales campaigns did not go well, which strongly surprised professionals, accustomed until now to most of the wines offered en primeur in May being sold before the start of the summer holidays. Many estates had difficulty selling their 2023 vintage, despite a significant price drop for this excellent-quality vintage. The difficulties were even more significant the following year for the sale of the 2024, a vintage described as good to very good, which had nevertheless benefited from an even greater effort on prices.
In this very delicate context, what price positioning will the growers choose? We will find out at the beginning of May, when the first offers appear, following the tastings of the en primeur week scheduled for 20 to 24 April. Given the state of the market, it would be surprising if the prices asked for the 2025 vintage were appreciably higher than those offered for 2024. If prices were to be identical or very close, this would in reality be a decrease, the quality of the 2025 vintage being superior. Many rumours are circulating in the vineyard, probably because some owners — notably those for whom the sale of the previous two vintages went badly — will wish to lighten their stocks and could offer the 2025 vintage at a price lower than that of 2024. As for the négociants, with markets having become more fragile, they will no doubt be content to buy the quantities they are fairly certain of selling, without seeking to build up stocks in the hope of future capital gains, as was often the case in the past. Before setting their prices, owners will ask themselves many questions: have the Bordeaux négociants sufficiently lightened their stocks of grands crus? Do they still have sufficient credit lines to position themselves on large volumes? How will the end consumer react? Will the prices offered be attractive enough to invigorate the campaign?
The last period in which the classified growths faced difficulties goes back a good half-century. In other words, the current owners of the grands crus have never experienced such a delicate situation. At the time, the prices of the grands crus had literally collapsed because of the Bordeaux wine scandal, even though this fraud did not concern them. Fortunately, within two or three years, prices had recovered and everything had returned to order.
The current difficulties, while serious, are far from having the gravity of the crisis of the mid-1970s. However, the forthcoming en primeur campaign represents a considerable stake for the grands crus. Either the market picks up thanks to prices in line with the market, or sales will be insufficient and stocks will continue to swell, accentuating the unease and the crisis. These 2025 Primeurs are, for the grands crus, a leap into the unknown.
