🍷 Big Discounts, Little Buzz: What’s Going On in Bordeaux?

By Vio’s Food & Wine, based on an article by WineNews.it

Imagine slashing prices on luxury handbags and nobody shows up. That was the vibe in Bordeaux during last spring’s En Primeur campaign.

Each year, this legendary French wine region hosts a special “preview sale” called

"En Primeur"—a kind of wine futures market where people pre-order wines that haven’t even been bottled yet.

Think of it like buying a designer dress straight off the sketchbook… before it even hits the runway.

Collectors, merchants, and wine lovers get a first taste—and a first chance to buy—what’s supposed to be the next big vintage.

But this year? Oof. Even with big names like Château Margaux dropping their prices by 25% compared to 2023, the excitement was… well, let’s just say the wine had more sparkle than the market.

The biggest cuts seen in over a decade. That’s dramatic in the world of fine wine. And yet… crickets.

According to a great breakdown by Italy’s WineNews.it, producers made huge price cuts—some wines are now at their lowest price in a decade!

And critics still liked the wines, giving them solid scores. But even with all that, buyers just didn’t bite...

🍇 Wait, Isn’t Bordeaux Supposed to Be Fancy?

Yes! And the 2024 vintage wasn’t bad—in fact, Wine Lister, a wine rating and data platform under Le Figaro Vin, gave it a solid average score of 94.6 points across top critics. That’s slightly down from 2023, but still impressive. This wasn’t a matter of quality.

So why the lack of enthusiasm?

Well, Bordeaux has been having a bit of an identity crisis. Fewer people are drinking wine like they used to (especially younger folks). According to Liv-Ex (aka the London International Vintners Exchange—the stock market of fine wine), there just wasn’t much demand. Buyers were cautious, many felt burned by previous inflated pricing, and some were simply shifting their attention to trendier wine regions like Burgundy, Barolo, or California.

Even the Financial Times called it “one of the most difficult campaigns in recent Bordeaux history.” Yikes!

Bordeaux used to rule the wine world. Now, it’s sharing the stage—and not everyone’s sticking around for the encore.