Thursday, August 1, 2024

Is it a good time to buy Burgundy?

 In short, not yet. Burgundy wines have seen spectacular price rises in the last years. This was exacerbated in the years since the Covid pandemic, as vintages were low yielding and people had few options to spend money, and bought Burgundy as a result.

Now things have changed. The 2022 and 2023 vintages are large. Many customers have turned off Burgundy because of high prices and lack of supply. Will they come back now, as more wine is available?Early signs are that this is doubtful. All major economies are struggling: China, Europe, and part of the US. Many leading producers have dropped prices (up to 30%) to clear their stock. However, these price reductions have not flown to the secondary market - yet.

I suggest to be a bit patient if you are a Burgundy buyer, but most likely, opportunities will come your way.

2 comments:

Zamantan said...

Taxes play another part here tbf. The mismatch in pricing between here and Europe in general is kinda ridiculous. Could buy some at nearly 50% discounts. Mind you it's highly variable and others were priced similar to here.

Re burgundy more general tgere are 100% truly special wines from there. The tier below I do question whether it's actually worth having much of? I don't think the value has been there for some time. Would also say labelling for 1er cru especially feels misplaced as plenty seem lesser than Village-level from other appellations. Market pricing does reflect this to be fair.

kr1 said...

i am unsure if the wine equalisation tax debacle applies to imported wines as well but it is the single most useless tax imposed on quality wines. taxing alcohol percentages makes sense, but what is the point of taxing the value of the product. It seems like a cash grab - plain and simple.

On the subject of when is a good time to buy burgundy, it isn't becoming any cheaper due to the demand simply outstripping the supply. No doubt the wines are well made, the fruit meticulously treated but the the prices are bordering on ridiculous. I agree that a number of 1er crus seem to be lesser than village wines early on.. coupled with aging being no guarantee of quality (plus the outlay needed to have a decent collection), I have tended to take my money elsewhere in terms of collecting wines for future drinking..