And, inexorably, the wines produced in such a way, will enchant the palates of the amateurs of petit and grand crus so dear to French cultural heritage.

L’article Wine alchemy in Burgundy est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

Meanwhile, the first London Sotheby’s wine auction on September 17 and 18, yielded the sum of £1,65 million after an estimation between £1,3 and £1,6 million.
The most exceptional lot was a lot of two Pétrus 1945 magnums, sold £47000, considerably above its estimation: £18000 – 24000.
The second one was a lot of 5 La Tache magnums, sold at one hell of a price – £44650, or three times the estimate (£12000 – 15000).

In Hong Kong, the Acker Merall auction proves one more time the desire of Chinese and Hong Kong collectors to own the best wines in the world – French Grand Crus.

 (source picture: copyright Sotheby’s)

L’article DRC and Pétrus top the auction lists est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

Most of the Burgundy wine producers have started grape harvest in the beginning of last week.

Claude Chevalier, the president of Inter-professional Bureau of Burgundy Wine (BIVB) has stated, after a hard wine harvest session, that the rates of return are close to norm, but significantly lower than the average for the previous vintages.

Chevalier announced that as for his own domaine, domaine Chevalier, located in Lodoix-Serrigny, the grapes are of fine concentration and present a good phenolic maturity. And the most important thing is that there’s plenty of grapes!

Multiple unripe grapes as well as grapes affected by acetic rot with vinegar smell are thrown away from the sorting tables. The rotting process is partly provoked by fruit flies, Drosophiles suzukii, present during the harvest. These flies go crazy about cherries, and the cherry season was long enough for the drosophiles flies to pass from cherries to grapes during the grape harvesting. Moreover, the temperature close to 20°C has favored their presence from August till the wine harvesting time.

Approximately 1,45 million hectolitres are expected from Burgundy region production, from Chablis to Mâcon, which is moderately below average, equal to 1,5 million hectolitres.

This numbers take into account the above-average production of Côte de nuits, but at the same time the lower production of Côte de Beaune and Mâconnais as a result of strong hailstorms in the end of June.

The vintage of this year was expected to be correct but not exceptional due to cold temperatures and frequent rainfalls this summer, but the last three weeks preceding the crop, being sunny and hot, have saved the harvest.

According to Sylvain Pitiot from Clos de Tart in Morey St Denis, 2014 is going to be a very good vintage!

Many domaines had to «clean » the vines and aerate the grapes in order to avoid Botrytis during heavy and multiple rains in August.

The harvests that have ended up around 18-20 September announce the alcohol percentage somewhere between 11,8 and 12,3%.

Apparently, this 2014 vintage is going to surprise us with its extraordinary quality of white wines, which will reflect a good balance between acidity and ripeness.

The 2014 wine harvest made Burgundy wine producers happy with its quantity as well as its quality. And now we have from 12 to 24 weeks until we see these wines bottled and have the opportunity to taste them.

L’article Burgundy sighs with relief est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

Not a single burgundy vineyard was spared in 2013. The harvested quantities are a reflection of this difficult vintage, and hence extremely small as in 2012.

Not withstanding, on tasting, much more positive aspects are revealed. Once again, the hard labor of the winemakers and their experience will have paid off.

The red wines

The red wines present a deep and brilliant red ruby hue. On the olfactory side the nose is transported by the freshness of red fruits (blackberry, raspberry and cherry). And now for the taste buds! One find’s well-balanced wines with fine tannins and a few tangy notes as well as being long tasting in the mouth.

The white wines

The white wines present to the nose, a balanced fruity essence with citrus notes, a beautiful freshness and vivacity. The acidity is good; the wines are well-balanced, excellent news for a difficult harvest.

L’article Burgundy: The 2013 vintage wines est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

But it’s also an 80 000 bottle production of Château Pommard, of which, 20 000 bottles are of the Clos du Château, to top it all up, 35 000 visitors per year! It is one of the top oenotouristic spots of the Côte d’Or area. With a 6 million Euro annual turnover, the Château Pommard aged over 300 years, is also a symbol of the Burgundy area, and part of France’s heritage.
It belonged to the Laplanche family since 1936; the founder of MGM Constructors, Maurice Giraud, bought the château in 2003. He was the person that created this great art gallery on the Grand crus circuit.
It was during a visit by a fifty year old American, Michael Baum, founder amidst others of founder.org that had a real crush for “this magical place” as he underlined himself.
Domains and Châteaux that are part of France’s heritage are being increasingly sold to Americans, Chinese, Swiss, Russian or Brazilian tycoons amongst others. All these millionaires (if not billionaires) are looking for new toys!

You might argue that the nationality of the owner is not important, it’s the team that is going to allow the tradition to stay and keep the know-how, continuing to make fine wine amateurs, to keep on dreaming. And if, thanks to this financial flow, our domains and châteaux continue to live and develop over time, at the same time providing jobs to men and women that produce this much sought after nectar, we will be able to thank all this foreign wealth.

But please don’t forget dear tycoon friends, that this heritage is ours, and can’t and should not under any circumstances be modified, destroyed or used for any other purpose than that it was designed for; making the best wine in the world.

L’article Michael Baume buy’s Château Pommard est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

– Golden palm for the finest Chardonnay in the world.
– Golden palm for the best French white wine.
– Golden palm for the best white Burgundy
– Best organic wine in the world

This wine is issued from the original plot, nine centuries ago, from the Domaine de la Vougeraie that has never been divided, a most unusual event in the Burgundy area.

This exceptional Burgundy, has the particularity of being a monopoly in spite of the 1789 revolution, and the selling of the national assets.

It is a most unusual wine, a wine used in religious services of the Cîteaux monks in 1110, that has the particularity of having a length in taste typical of Meursault and the mineral tang of a Chablis.

The careful selection during harvest, indigenous yeasts, the effects of biodynamics, a lengthy maturation and a late malolactic fermentation, for better wine stability, have created an exceptional wine.
The 2010 vintage is a complex and elegant wine to be kept, one of the best vintages ever produced by the Domaine de la Vougeraie.

L’article Clos Blanc de Vougeot Monopole, Best organic wine in the world est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

The sale of the SVEAAS collection reached the sum of 6 800 000 Dollars.
Here below, you will find the first ten, classified by: (name, vintage, sales price, buyer)

– Château Mouton Rothschild 1986, 30×12 bottles, 
USD 288 000 (198 621 €), Europe

– Hermitage La Chapelle, Paul Jaboulet Aîné 1961, 12 bottles, 
 USD 252 000 (173 793€), Europe

– Château d’Yquem 1945, 12 bottles, 
 USD 132 000 (91 034 €), Europe

– Château Latour 1945, 12 bottles,
 USD 126 000 (86 897€), Asia

– Château Mouton Rothschild 1945, 12 bottles, 
USD 120 000 (82 759€), Asia

– La Tâche, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1978, 12 bottles, 
 USD 78 000 (53 793€), Asia

– Romanée-Conti, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1991, 12 bottles, 
 USD 78 000 (53 793€), Asia

– Romanée-Conti, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1993, 12 bottles, 
USD 78 000 (. 53 793€), Asia

– Château Cheval Blanc 1921, 12 bottles, 
 USD 72 000 (49 655€), Europe

– Château Latour 1961, 12 bottles, 
USD 66 000 (45 517€), Europe

A case of 12 bottles of Cheval Blanc from the last century was auctioned by Christie’s in Paris the 6^th of December 2013, this exceptional vintage hit the ceiling; 131.600€ the case of twelve bottles of 1947 Cheval Blanc, it was on this last auction that fell Christie’s auctioneers hammer, setting a new record for this class of product.
Michael Ganne, director of Christie’s department of fine wines, was pleased with the excellent results of this sale, which got together bidders from sixteen countries. A 1989 Pétrus Jéroboam went for 28.200€, at the same time a lot of 9 bottles of this same wine was sold for 23.500€.

A record sale for Vosne-Romanée: Hong Kong loves the wines from Burgundy.

On the tenth of February of this year, took place at Christie’s in Hon Kong the sale of “Fine and Rare wines from Henri Jayer’s private cellar”. The total amount climbed to a sum of 7 million Euros, with a record auction for 12 bottles of 1985 vintage Premier crus “Cros Parantoux” Vosne-Romanée that went for 200.000€. CharlesCurtis, director of the “Asian wine market”, welcomed the sale, declaring: “These record sales, confirm the passion of our Asian clients for Burgundy wines, and Hong Kong’s position as the dominant market place for rare wines”.

27% value increase of Burgundy wines in the Beaune sale.

The 153^rd sale at the Hospices de Beaune under Christie’s auspices, registered a new and important increase of 27,12% in the rates of Burgundy wines. The prices of the reds jumped by 28% thereby doubling the rates. Whites have progressed by 20%. The small harvest of 2013 and its gustative quality, explain this strong progression.  The buyer Ms. Yan Hong Cao, participating for the third time at the Hospice de Beaune sales, is the owner of a chain of shops, tea plantations and jade mines in the south east of China. She acquired for the sum of 131.000€ a 456 liter barrel of Meursault Genevrieres premiers crus, cuvee Phillipe Le Bon, she declared in Chinese that she appreciated the wines from Burgundy. In total this auction has reached the sum of 5,765 million Euros, beating the 2012 edition record of (5,217 million Euros).  “The Burgundy pinot noir has become a rare wine in 2013” explained Roland Masse, manager of the Hospices de Beaune wine estate. “The autumnal weather of this spring added to this, a hailstorm episode in July, has decimated many a vineyard in the Côte de Beaune. 2013 is rare in quantity, but extraordinary due to some small precious nuggets.

“Record sale at Christie’s: 77.000 Euros for a case of wine. A case of French wine has reached the record sum of 109 350 Swiss Francs (77 469 Euros).

An anonymous private Asian buyer has bought a case of six bottles of Hermitage la Chapelle 1961, in these auctions by Christies, exceeding largely the estimates.

Several magnificent Burgundy vintages where put up for sale, such as a Henri Jayer 1990 Vosne-Romanée estimated between 45 000 and 50 000 € or a 1799 Bordeaux Château Laffite estimated between 15 000 and 20 000€.

Around the world, the sales of wines by auction have almost doubled between 2009 and 2010, going from 233 million $ to 408 million $. The 7 most important auction firms in the world (ordered by the turnover realized in wine sales):

–       Acker worldwide-

–       Sotheby’s worldwide-

–       Christies worldwide-

–       Zachys worldwide-

–       Hart Davis Hart Chicago-

–       Spectrum-

–       Bonhams.

The five most sold Bordeaux reds or (Blue chip wines as they are known), in other words, the most reliable values are:

Mouton-Rothschild 1982

–       Mouton-Rothschild 1986-

–       Château Lafite 1996-

–       Château Lafite 1982-

–       Mouton-Rothschild 1995.

$232.692 for a Château Lafite 1869 (Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Oct. 2010)
. 
$310.700 for a jeroboam of Mouton Rothschild 1945 (Sotheby’s New York, Feb. 2007)
. 
$1.051.600 for 50 cases of (75 cl) Mouton Rothschild 1982 (Sotheby’s New York, Jan. 2006). 
Romanée-Conti 1990: $20.211 (New York), $13.452 (Hong Kong), $11.850 (Chicago). 
Pétrus 1982: $4.628 (NY), $5.860 (HK), $2.553 (London), $3.835 (Chicago)
Cheval-Blanc 2000: $1.208 (NY), $1.469 (HK), $1.171 (London), $922 (Chicago)

In 2011 a new record was attained! A château d’Yquem 1811 (from the Napoleonic period), became the world’s most expensive white wine, 85 000€, this record was achieved at an exceptional auction at the Ritz hotel in London in July 2011.

It’s a case of Pétrus 1961that pegged the record price: estimated between 50 000$ and 90 000$ (36 000€ and 65 000€), it was finally sold for 144 000$ (104 200€), a price never before reached by a case of Pommerol in an auction.

Other lots where sold at extremely high prices, such as these 11 bottles of Pétrus sold for 90 000$ (65 000€) to a professional European buyer or a case of Château Lafite 1982 sold for 50 400$ (36 400€) to a private Asian buyer. On this subject, Charles Antin, a specialist for Christie’s in North America declared, “The sale of great and rare wines organized by Christie’s in New York last weekend, has once again proved the extraordinary solidity of the wine auction market. The total turnover has exceeded 2 000 000 $ (1 450 000€). A lot of 12 bottles of Château Pétrus 1961 was the object of the highest bid, with 144 000$ (104 200€), this being the highest price ever reached by a case of Pétrus in an auction”.

“We are also extremely happy with the results of the excellent selection of wines, coming directly from the Marchesi Antinory cellars. All the goods where sold at a 150% rate, above the highest estimates, this being once more proof of the undeniable influence of the wine’s origins on the prices”.

On Saturday 29^th of October, 99% of the lots at this auction found a buyer, sold for 98% of the realized value, in other words, a total of 2 105 340$ (1 523 840€).

In a two-day auction at Sotheby’s of London, which proposed wines from “an exceptional private collection” these attained a total sum of 1 870 682 £ (2 171 735 €) originally estimated before the auction at 2 115 960 £ (2 456 270 €).

It is a case of Château Lafite 1986 which gave the highest sale, going for 13 225 £ (15 350 €). Stephen Mould, Sotheby’s European wine director, declared regarding this auction: “ The rarest vintages of Bordeaux Premiers Grand crus have overreached the highest estimates, and the Château Haut-Brion had a lot of success in all the formats”.

“At the end of the first day, the super second wines had been literally overrun and they had all been sold. This tendency was confirmed the following day. The Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ducru-Beaucaillou et Palmer, for example, where actively bought by phone and through internet. It is the Château Cheval Blanc that outshone on the Rive Droite. As far as the Pomerol is concerned, the price of the majority of the vintages of the Château Gazin where sold well above the highest estimates”.

This weekend, two auctions, respectively created by Acker Merral& Condit and Christie’s, have again gone on to break more records. The first one, over a two day period in Hon Kong realized by Acker Merrit & Condit, billed almost 8,7 million Euros. Amongst the important lots one finds two cases of 1988 Romanée-Conti, being adjudicated for 74 551 Euros each, eight bottles from the Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, sold for 48.234 Euros and a case of Château Lafleur 1982 gone for 39.467 Euros. The second sale hosted by Christie’s on the 27^th of Mai, was dedicated to Chateau Latour, after a real 8 hour marathon, the auction collected almost 7,76 million Dollars, the star of the event being a 6 liter bottle (Imperial) of Château Latour 1961 sold for 135 000 £ (approx. 155 740 Euros). It is to be noted that of the 392 lots presented 95%, went for, well above the highest estimates.

In 2011 a new record was attained! A château d’Yquem 1811 (from the Napoleonic period), becoming the world’s most expensive white wine, 85 000€, this record was achieved at an exceptional auction at the Ritz hotel in London in July 2011.

The preceding record for a white wine was held by a 1787 Château d’Yquem Sauternes, issued from the same vineyard as the 1811 vintage and costs approximately 60.000 Dollars a bottle. A 1947 Cheval Blanc holds the record for the most expensive bottle, it’s a red wine sold by Christie’s of Geneva, last November for 304.375 Dollars.

The famous Château Cheval Blanc sold through Christie’s in Hong Kong, the bottles came directly from their cellars. This totaled 220 lots, proposed to the public, these being extremely rare since they where in unusual formats. The origin of the bottles directly from the château as well as the atypical formats pushed the high estimates over the wall. 70% of the bottles found a buyer exceeding the expert’s estimates for a total of 1,1 millions Euros. The masterpiece of the sale was a nabuchodonosor of 1998 Cheval Blanc, sold for 34 551 dollars, that’s almost 26 000 Euros. A magnum of 1936 Château Cheval Blanc found a buyer for 10 208 Dollars that’s almost 7 500 Euros, a double magnum of 1974 reached 7 852 Dollars (almost 5 800 Euros) and a 2004 Melchior (equivalent to 18 Liters) reached the sum of 10 993 Dollars  (almost 8 100 Euros). The notoriety of the château stimulated the auction to these incredible levels. This list is not exhaustive, and could fill several chapters if we took the time to present all the results of auctions of Grand crus around the world. But beware; only grand Crus can hope to reach these prices.

It is imperative to remember that investing in Grand Crus isn’t to be undertaken lightly, you have to choose with care how and with whom you operate, otherwise the critics might be right!

L’article The grand crus record placements of all time est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

“Prudent-man” investments such as:

–       The government savings account, with a virtually zero return, but at least guarantees that you won’t loose money, however you’re guaranteed not to earn any.

–       Life insurance with a promising return (around 2,6% before income tax) and which the government is constantly doing or undoing the rights that are normally due.

–       Real estate a hazardous returns that could be of 5% over a 15 to 20 year period, with an ocean of difficulties.

–       The stock exchange where everything goes well or wrong, where you risk at all moments a total loss, lets not talk about safe have values such as gold, safe havens for whom? If it’s not by the great an wealthy, that do or undo the rates, cheating outrageously, without anyone being able to intervene.

What’s left? You might ask, well, all is possible as long as you totally diversify, and that you turn to tangible assets.

There are several, such as art, requiring a rather large initial investment, collection cars difficult to approach, forests, again over a long period, and then there is the one that retained all our attention, “THE WINE”.

Investing in wine is affordable by all. No need to have 100 000 Euros in order to have a good return; wine is affordable to all purses and offers to each and everyone the privilege of constituting a cellar according to one’s investment capacity.
However, investing in wine is above all a purely financial placement, which can only meet your profitability expectations only through classified Grands Crus or prestige wines, and never second-class wines.

The “wine” investment is extremely accessible and without unnecessary regulatory constraints, that you can manage as a regular stock portfolio. Nevertheless you must keep in mind that it is better to go through specialized firms, that will be perfectly transparent in their contracts, guaranteeing the optimal storage of your wine in specifically adapted emplacements for wine custody under custom authority, in other words tax free. Again one must diversify, even in wines, don’t be 100% Bordeaux that would be a fundamental mistake: one only has to look at the numbers and the richness of the different terroirs of France to see that the biggest Grand Crus are not only from the Bordeaux region, far from it, but that the Burgundy area is a larger provider.

If you should wish to invest in your own cellar, do it, but guarantee yourself that your wines are perfectly stored, since at the moment of the resale you will have to furnish the guarantees of an optimal conservation, otherwise all that’s left is to drink it yourself which could be worse.
Quick and extremely easy to put in place, your investment can be done on-line, here again with a specialized firm. It’s easy to compare the different offers of the different professional in the field of wines, take your time but don’t pass up the good opportunities since they never last a long time in this, extremely attractive market.

We recommend European millésimes, for the qualities of which, mention was made in this article.
A privileged welcome, clear and precise explanations, customer care, guaranteed storage, buying and re-sales, and finally a service that one can expect from a professional in financial investments in such a particular field as that of the wine market.

L’article PRIVILEGED SUMMER est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

L’article THE AUDE REGION HIT BY HAIL. est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.

Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet, Grand Cru, from the Leflaive domain is a beautiful lot of 3,7 acres (the largest of the 8,6 acres, that represent the label) positioned just underneath the Bâtard and against les Pucelles. This gently slopping environment composed of a calcareous soil, of a brown, almost black color, these soils being heavy next to the surface, clearly mark the wines with their aromatic generosity and powerful body, allowing them to be perfectly well kept long periods. Doubtlessly, it’s not the best grand cru in Puligny, suffering the comparison with the Chevallier, much more elegant and fine and the Bâtard, the latter possessing even more energy and aromatic profile. But the mellow texture and it’s volume in the mouth makes for an accessible and refined vintage ideally suited when accompanying fresh water fish or lobster. It compares as far as style is concerned to the middle section of the Charmes de Meursault. (source: Patrick Essa) 2010 is a great Burgundy vintage, marked by their classical style and small yields. The general profile of the 2010 whites is close to the 2008 vintage, with wines combining an excellent maturity, offering fruitiness and a beautiful acidity, offering length and precision. The nuances with respect to her elders, comes from a more accomplished maturity and a slightly less marked acidity, offering more precocious wines, hence being of easier access in their youth, with a promise of a magnificent maturation. It’s more a “terroir” wine rather than a vintage wine, the 2010 will delight all those Burgundy lovers, marked by the uniqueness of each environment. The only downside to this picture is the average drop in production, 40% with regards to the preceding year. The wines from the domain are certified as being issued from biodynamic agriculture since 1998.

L’article Domaine Leflaive – Bienvenue Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2010 est apparu en premier sur Blog World Grands Crus.