Famous Wine Critic Goes Off on Bordeaux
Neal Martin is one of the top wine writers and critics in the world. When he writes, we read and listen. This week, he wrote one of the most important pieces on the wine industry this year.
Neal’s article titled “Bordeaux: The Crisis Laid Bare” shows a Bordeaux that is facing its deepest crisis since the 1930s, with the 2024 en primeur campaign being the worst in over 25 years. Neal Martin dismantles the myth that this is just a passing downturn, exposing a region in existential peril due to long-term structural flaws, mismanagement, and hubris.
Key Causes of the Crisis
1) Greed and Shortsightedness: Since the 2009 vintage, success bred overconfidence. Châteaux increasingly treated wine as a luxury commodity and investment vehicle, prioritizing shareholder returns over consumer relationships.
2) Runaway Pricing: Prices rose disproportionately, alienating loyal drinkers. Discounts were rare, even for weak vintages. The mantra became “quality at any cost,” with an inflated belief that consumers would pay endlessly.
3) Broken Distribution System: Once wine was sold to négociants, châteaux disengaged. Warehouses filled with unsold wine. Merchants operated on razor-thin margins, some even selling at a loss to retain allocations.
4) Primeur System Undermined: With back vintages available at equal or lower prices, buyers had no incentive to gamble on unfinished 2024s. Consumers felt duped, especially after overpaying for weak recent vintages like 2021.
5) Changing Market Dynamics: Bordeaux lost its cultural cachet. Sommeliers turned indifferent. A younger generation moved on. Meanwhile, regions like Burgundy, Champagne, Piedmont, and California took market share.
6) Wider Economic Pressures: Inflation, geopolitical uncertainty, and a shrinking pool of drinkers due to health and lifestyle trends intensified the pressure.
The Scale of the Damage? Even prestigious châteaux failed to sell. Lafite-Rothschild and Les Carmes Haut-Brion were rare exceptions. Small estates face extinction and unsold wine is eroding brand value and creating a liquidity crisis. The Only Real Solution is to slash prices by 50–60% to rekindle consumer interest and rebuild loyalty according to Neal. He urges the French to accept that high volume + high quality = lower pricing. That’s not shameful as it’s Bordeaux’s strength.
Other tips?
Stop the blame game between châteaux and négociants, modernize the distribution system, and re-engage with end consumers. Let go of pride: Bordeaux must reconnect with its roots as a region for wine lovers, not just collectors or investors. Neal argues this isn’t just a cyclical downturn—it’s a paradigm shift. The Bordeaux model is unsustainable unless bold action is taken. The wine still has global fans, but unless the industry listens and adapts, Bordeaux risks becoming irrelevant (“a museum of wines people used to drink.”) There is a tipping point where consumers will flood back. But Bordeaux has to stop pretending it's immune to market forces.
Price it right—or perish.