Château Lafite

Wine and the City talks to Christophe Salin, managing director of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, at the Château Lafite 2011 en primeur tasting in Bordeaux, about the character of Lafite 2011, why prices need to come down this year, and Lafite's new vineyard venture in China.

Lafite set to release early and low

Christophe Salin, director of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, has revealed Lafite is to release its 2011 price early and with a significant price drop to 2010. “We want to release early this year, possibly even as early as the end of April. All the wines will have been tasted in the next three weeks, so there’s no need to wait,” he told the drinks business at the Lafite 2011 en primeurs tasting in Bordeaux.

Commenting on the rumour that the château is to release early and low in order to restore faith in the market, Salin said: “I’ve heard that rumour too, because it’s based on something I said. With Lafite we have the luxury of being able to sell at a high price, but we want to play by the rules and listen to the market. We don’t want to be individualists – Bordeaux is a collective work; we have power and duties so we need to play as a team,” he added.

Salin stressed a need for modesty this year. “2011 will be the vintage that restores Bordeaux’s image, as last year we were very expensive and people lost faith,” he said. Lafite is busy planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah at its new vineyard site in Penglai in China’s Shandong province. “Cabernet alone is too tannic for the Asian palate, so the Syrah will be used to soften the blend,” Salin told db, though a 100% Syrah is not on the cards: “Syrah without Cabernet is like a beautiful woman without brains,” Salin quipped.

Meanwhile, Jean-Guillaume Prats, president of Château Cos d’Estournel, told db that reports of hail problems at the property have been exaggerated. “We suffered at the hands of one intense hail storm but it had more effect on phenolic ripeness than anything else – our yields are actually up on last year as the grapes weren’t hit,” he insisted.

In terms of pricing, Prats agrees with Salin that they must come out quickly: “The Bordelais showed an enormous amount of incompetence and arrogance by waiting too long to release last year and lost a lot of good will in the process. “We’ve learnt our lesson and want a quick campaign this year in time for Vinexpo Hong Kong,” he said.

Despite being only one tier down in the 1855 Bordeaux classification system, Prats views the first growths as inhabiting a world of their own. “We’re in a different league to them. Whatever they do has very little influence on our decision making process,” he said. Prats also voiced his dislike of the tranche system in Bordeaux, describing it as an artificial way to work out what the price should be. “I don’t believe in tranches. We release everything en primeur and about 75% of our stock in the first tranche,” he revealed.

Lafite winery in China underway

Domaines Barons de Rothschild has begun construction of a winery in Penglai in China’s Shandong province in order to capitalise on the thirst for fine wine in Asia. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, in partnership with CITIC East China Group, the new winery, in the only coastal wine producing area in Asia, is expected to produce 120,000 bottles of wine a year.

After fifteen years of research on grape planting in Asia, Lafite selected the port town of Penglai as the optimum site for its Chinese property. The company has invested £10m in the 1.73 hectare winery, and the accompanying 25 hectare estate. A completion date for the project has yet to be given. Lafite will plant different kinds of grapes in accordance with soil constituents, without the use of chemical fertilisers.

“The world’s top luxury brands are all very interested in the Chinese market, Rothschild is no exception,” said Zhang Lu, a Shanghai-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp. Outside France, Lafite also owns Bodegas Caro in Argentina and Viña Los Vascos in Chile. Penglai has a quality grape growing area of more than 10,000 hectares.

Wine production in the region has doubled to 140,000 tons in 2011 from 2005, while the number of winemakers increased to 70 from 39 in the same period. Chinese wine imports meanwhile, were worth over US$1.27bn last year, after an annual increase of 88%. According to the latest figures from Vinexpo, Asia is on course to become the world’s second biggest market for wine within the next three years.

Chinese consumers will increase the amount of wine they drink by 54% by 2015 as consumption reaches 1.9 to 2 liters per person, the Vinexpo study found. The value of wine purchases may outpace volume in the next four years, helped by high-end consumption in China, which is now the fifth largest wine market by volume.