The Place de Bordeaux has finally shown its hand, and the market's verdict is decidedly lukewarm. The 2024 en primeur campaign — billed as a 'factory reset' by Liv-ex analysts — has arrived with average UK release prices down 21% on the 2023 vintage and a striking 38% below 2022 levels. Yet for a system under existential pressure, even historic discounts may not be enough.
A Vintage That Divided the Critics
The 2024 growing season was, by any measure, punishing. Relentless rain from March through September — the wettest such period in over a decade — brought downy mildew that slashed yields by an estimated 20–25%. Coulure, hail, and botrytis compounded the misery, producing the smallest Bordeaux crop since 1991. A merciful dry window from mid-July to late August offered partial reprieve, but harvest-time rain returned to complicate picking for both Merlot and Cabernet.
Critics have struggled to find consensus. James Suckling called it a 'nightmare' vintage for growing, yet praised the best wines as 'modern renditions of years such as 1985 or 1995' — linear, fresh, with fine tannins. Jane Anson was more generous, declaring results better than 2013 and, at the top end, superior to 2021, with the Right Bank outperforming the Left. William Kelley at the Wine Advocate was blunter: 'the weakest vintage of the last decade,' with many reds 'dilute, herbaceous and tart.' Only nine wines averaged above 95 points across major critics, compared with 33 in 2023 and 64 in the celebrated 2022.
Historic Price Cuts, Stubborn Resistance
The numbers are eye-catching. Lafite Rothschild released at €288 per bottle ex-négociant — roughly 30% below its 2023 offer and more than half off the 2022 price. Cheval Blanc came in at €276, its lowest release since 2008. Margaux hit a decade-low for futures pricing, while Domaine de Chevalier and d'Issan both released beneath every back vintage available on the secondary market.
Trade professionals had called for approximately 31% year-on-year reductions to rekindle demand. Some châteaux have obliged; many have not. The fundamental problem persists: back vintages of demonstrably superior quality remain available for less than current futures prices. As one London merchant put it, why would a client lock up capital for two years on a 2024 when a ready-to-collect 2019 costs the same or less?
A Market Under Siege
External headwinds have made a difficult campaign worse. US tariffs — initially threatened at 200% on EU beverages before settling at 10% in April, with a further rise to 15% agreed in July — effectively removed America from the buying equation. Shaun Bishop of JJ Buckley Fine Wines in California was unequivocal: 'For the first time ever, we will not do an en primeur campaign.' Sterling's 5% slide against the euro has meanwhile eroded price cuts for British buyers, Bordeaux's most reliable futures market.
The Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000, the industry's benchmark index, has fallen 24.1% over two years. Négociants are sitting on unsold stock dating back to 2020, and some have refused to take their allocations — a once-unthinkable breach of the Place de Bordeaux's gentlemanly conventions. Jean-Christophe Esteve of Sovinat in Mérignac called it 'one of my worst primeur campaigns in 40 years.'
The Silver Lining
If there is cause for optimism, it lies in the whites. Cool conditions produced riveting Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon blends, with Haut-Brion Blanc and Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux drawing particular acclaim. Sauternes, too, delivered genuine excitement — excellent botrytis development yielded standouts from Suduiraut and Lafaurie-Peyraguey. Neal Martin's assessment may prove the most prescient of all: 2024, he suggested, is 'the ideal vintage for a reset.' Whether Bordeaux's châteaux are truly ready for that reset remains the open question.
