Latour first of the blocks with lower price

Château Latour has become the first of the Bordeaux First Growths to name its price for the 2008 vintage, and as expected it is some way below the opening price for its 2007.

The Pauillac property will be offering the wine for Euros110 a bottle (Euros130 ex-negoce), some 46% lower than the 2007.

The fall in price is in line with St-Emilion property Château Angélus, which was the first property to release its 2008 price – also down more than 40% on its 2007. 

Whether the reductions will be sufficient to appease British merchants calling for fairer pricing from the Bordelais in what promises to be a difficult en primeur campaign remains to be seen, however. 

Many in the trade had been hoping for an even bigger drop in price – to as low as Euros100 a bottle in the case of Latour and the other First Growths – to take into account the global economic climate.

In a mailing to his customers earlier this month, Adam Brett-Smith, managing director of Corney & Barrow, had urged the Bordelais to be “dramatic, even inspirational. Use 2001 opening prices as a reference, or 2002, or even 2004. You can afford to and you really, really need to make some friends. We all need them in these times do we not?”