My Article: Bordeaux 2010 Futures and Some Asia Wine Lovers

My “Man on the Street” survey of Bordeaux 2010 in Hong Kong has been interesting to say the least. Of course, people are going to buy the vintage as futures, or en primeur. However, I am not sure that serious wine consumers are going to buy large quantities.

The dozen or so people who I spoke to in the last two days say they are more interested in buying wines already in bottle. They want “face” with the bottles in their home cellars and with the opportunity to serve them to their friends in restaurants or during meals at home.

“Buying futures is not going to help me now with all the dinners and meetings I have with people who want to drink wines together,” said one wine lover during an Acker Merral & Condit VIP auction dinner tonight at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong. The dinner was in honor of Jean-Luc Thunevin, the owner of Saint-Emilion’s Valandraud. I will write a blog on the wines tomorrow.

It’s always been like this in Asia. However, the futures market is now growing. I have the idea that a lot of Bordeaux futures are being bought by wine merchants and speculators – so the wines are being bought by a limited number of people for investment instead of drinking. Almost all the people I spoke to also mentioned wine investment funds as well.

What does this all mean? I am not 100 percent sure. But my initial thoughts are that the top Bordeaux 2010 are going to be bought by speculators and not drinkers – at least in Hong Kong. But maybe that’s worldwide.