Red Obsession Page #4

times by lot of number

of cases, times by 12.

Work it out yourself.

Well, the 2009

prices hit an all-time high,

absolutely astronomical prices,

and totally unexpected too.

And now, with all the hype

that's been leading into

this Primeur campaign

for the 2010 vintage...

...there is this real

worry that the Bordelais

are going to take it to

another unprecedented level.

These extraordinary rises

have put significant pressure

on traditional markets.

Bordeaux's most important

customer of the last 30 years,

already battered by the

global financial crisis,

The Americans are not going to

be buying anything from 2010.

They didn't buy anything in '09.

A few people will buy,

but America used to be

the biggest market in

the world for these wines

and it's not anymore, the

prices are just too high.

They've priced themselves

out of the market.

There's nothing, you know,

left to say about that.

But prices for the new wines

are not fixed until the

critics reveal their scores.

The higher the scores,

the higher the prices

set by the chteaux -

a situation not all

critics are happy about.

This time of year,

when I'm looking at the young wines

and I'm trying to work out

what they will be in 20 years time,

but a lot of the overlay

of my perception is...

..."How much money are they

trying to squeeze out of us?"

We are all pawns, we are all part of

helping the Bordeaux chteau owners

get as much money as possible.

Ah, yes, of course, money!

Money conducts the world, you know.

Bordeaux is all about

trade, it's all about politics,

it's all about history.

What makes its heart beat

is not, "Gosh, I've just made

a beautiful cabernet sauvignon.

"Ooh, do come along

and taste it with me,"

but, "I'm powerful and I

want to be richer than I am,

"I want to be more powerful than I am

- and I know how to do it!"

The critics

reveal their scores

and confirm the hype.

The 2010

is another miracle vintage.

Internationally renowned

critic Robert Parker

scores perfect 100s for the top wines,

but warns the chteaux

that they should drop

their prices this year,

or suffer the consequences

of an overheated market.

If you're

pushing your prices up

and you're pushing your clients

to pay more for the wines

that they've been buying for

years and years and years,

you really run the risk

of completely and utterly

divorcing your traditional markets.

Ignoring Parker's warning,

the major chteaux

immediately raise the

prices of the 2010 vintage

to an all-time high,

as much as 40% up on

the record 2009 vintage.

But the risk they are

taking is a calculated one.

Bordeaux's fate has always been tied

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