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'Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have
to play this game?' she asks. 'I hope 2006 will really
show the Bordelais the shortcomings of this system.'
She hopes that the negociants will get left with unsaleable
stock this year. Staples agrees this might happen.
Chateaux are seduced by the new markets of the east,
Robinson says. They feel that there's lots of money
in Russian and Asian pockets – so we can get rid
of their wines there.
But, Staples says, the problem with Russia, China and
Taiwan is that they tend to have 'no belief' in futures
market and buy only 'physical product' – another
reason why negociants are going to find their shelves
filled with stock.
The system fails the consumer, Robinson says, because
any newcomer to the market could see no sense in paying
huge sums of money for a product that may change substantially
in two months.
The system whereby barrel samples are assessed up to
two years before they are sold is one that Stephen Brook
also criticises in detail in the Decanter article, 'Is
En Primeur a Scam?' which reports the debate between
Stephen Brook and Steven Spurrier and appears in the
Supplement of the July issue of Decanter.
Source: http://www.decanter.com
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