The euphoria over Bordeaux 2005 has given way to apprehension, reports Decanter.com. Leading wine merchants fear the prices of the top wines, when they are released, will go through the roof.

"This whole 2005 campaign is turning into a bad joke," proclaimed a wine buyer on the US-based wine chat board in the website of the American critic, Robert Parker, report Panos Kakaviatos and Oliver Styles in Decanter.com

"It's scary, frustrating and aggravating," Washington, DC-based importer Mark Wessels said. I'm shocked by the prices for wines like Sociando-Mallet, Beychevelle and Mala rtic Lagraviere and can only imagine the prices for higher-end wines."

Others have been more direct. In an email acquired by Decanter.com, addressed to Jean-Guillaume Prats of Cos d'Estournel, a wine importer wrote: "The exaggerated ego of too many Bordeaux chateau owners kills customer fidelity. How can you expect to maintain your customer base with such incomprehensible and illogical price increases? Come back to earth - your products aren't the blood of Christ."

The first wine of Cos has not been released yet, but its second wine, Pagodes de Cos, came out at €21 and is now €30.

A weak dollar has proved an added headache for North American wine importers. Describing the futures campaign as "cautious," Jim Smith, of the largest US wine wholesaler, Southern Wine and Spirits, feared an unprecedented increase in prices.

For the complete story, go to www.decanter.com

(Hyperlink: http://www.decanter.com/news/86042.html)