I have been reading many articles over the last couple of years questioning whether or not recent vintages of Bordeaux are worthwhile purchases. So, to answer this question for myself, I gathered data for 33 Grand Cru Bordeaux producers from all five growths. I compiled prices for each of the wines between 2000 and 2013 as well as point scores given by major wine critics. The data was gathered on March 8th 2015. The purpose is to give a snapshot of the value of each vintage relative to points received. This is meant to be a standardized analysis.
It is true that critic scores might not truly reflect the quality of the wine for every individual reading this post. However, short of everyone conducting their own analysis based on their own opinion of each wine in each vintage, I believe that this analysis serves as a good proxy for the value of each wine. The score used was the median (middle number) of all available scores for a particular wine. Using the median should help alleviate critics’ biases. Prices were the average price in the United States as per wine-searcher.com’s website on the date the data was gathered. Again, this is not an accurate measure for each individual in the market for these wines since local prices vary. However, these prices reflect what the average buyer will have to pay in the United States.
Furthermore, this analysis does not look at the prices that buyers might have paid upon release of the wines. Since we cannot go back in time to purchase wine at its release price, our only option is to purchase at the current market rates. The results are presented in the table below. It shows the amount of money (in dollars) buyers will need to pay, on average, for each point received by that wine. For example, in order to purchase a Mouton Rothschild from 2000, a buyer should expect to pay about $19.77 for each point that that wine received. If, for example, the wine received, at the median, 95 points, the buyer should expect to pay about $1878.15 (95 points x $19.77 per point). Similarly, if someone wants to buy a Chateau Lagrange from 2010, this wine had a price-quality ratio (PQR) of 0.78, which means that if the wine received a score of 92, a buyer should expect to pay about $71.76 (92 points x $0.78 per point). So, the lower the PQR, the lower the amount that one must pay in order to purchase a wine (given the median score received by that wine).
Overall, this analysis shows that more recent vintages are quite well priced. For the purposes of illustration, I have included a graph that shows the PQR trend from 2000 to 2012 for four wines. As you can see, the PQR is lower for the most recent vintage than for any previous vintages pretty much across the board. This is the case for the vast majority of the wines in the table (and in cases where the most recent vintage does not have the lowest PQR, it is very close). Thus, it seems that recent vintages are worthwhile purchases. Some will argue that the prices should be even lower, and although I don’t disagree with that point it does not take away from the fact that prices are quite low compared to previous vintages.
Note that at the time of this writing, not all data was available to me. I will update this information as the data becomes available. Also, the focus of this analysis was on left-bank Bordeaux. I will do the same analysis on right-bank wines in the near future.
It is true that critic scores might not truly reflect the quality of the wine for every individual reading this post. However, short of everyone conducting their own analysis based on their own opinion of each wine in each vintage, I believe that this analysis serves as a good proxy for the value of each wine. The score used was the median (middle number) of all available scores for a particular wine. Using the median should help alleviate critics’ biases. Prices were the average price in the United States as per wine-searcher.com’s website on the date the data was gathered. Again, this is not an accurate measure for each individual in the market for these wines since local prices vary. However, these prices reflect what the average buyer will have to pay in the United States.
Furthermore, this analysis does not look at the prices that buyers might have paid upon release of the wines. Since we cannot go back in time to purchase wine at its release price, our only option is to purchase at the current market rates. The results are presented in the table below. It shows the amount of money (in dollars) buyers will need to pay, on average, for each point received by that wine. For example, in order to purchase a Mouton Rothschild from 2000, a buyer should expect to pay about $19.77 for each point that that wine received. If, for example, the wine received, at the median, 95 points, the buyer should expect to pay about $1878.15 (95 points x $19.77 per point). Similarly, if someone wants to buy a Chateau Lagrange from 2010, this wine had a price-quality ratio (PQR) of 0.78, which means that if the wine received a score of 92, a buyer should expect to pay about $71.76 (92 points x $0.78 per point). So, the lower the PQR, the lower the amount that one must pay in order to purchase a wine (given the median score received by that wine).
Overall, this analysis shows that more recent vintages are quite well priced. For the purposes of illustration, I have included a graph that shows the PQR trend from 2000 to 2012 for four wines. As you can see, the PQR is lower for the most recent vintage than for any previous vintages pretty much across the board. This is the case for the vast majority of the wines in the table (and in cases where the most recent vintage does not have the lowest PQR, it is very close). Thus, it seems that recent vintages are worthwhile purchases. Some will argue that the prices should be even lower, and although I don’t disagree with that point it does not take away from the fact that prices are quite low compared to previous vintages.
Note that at the time of this writing, not all data was available to me. I will update this information as the data becomes available. Also, the focus of this analysis was on left-bank Bordeaux. I will do the same analysis on right-bank wines in the near future.