Château Gruaud Larose, first Second Growth to offer its 2009 as futures

(Find some more news on www.vitabella.fr). There is always some suspens around the announcement of top Bordeaux wines' futures. Sometimes this suspens is unbearable for wine merchants and collectors. This was the case in the past for great vintages and it certainly is the case for 2009, a vintage many wine experts rated as the best vintage ever. This suspens makes the waiting time even longer and many stories are told during that period, including that one: prices for top Châteaux will be insane. Consequently, the great vintage and the strong demand particularly from China have brought a lot of attention internationally on the futures prices of these Châteaux. Finally Château Gruaud Larose was the first Second growth to announce 2009 Futures yesterday. For a Second Cru Classé from the Saint Julien appellation, the price of £35.95 exc VAT per bottle which is proposed by a UK wine merchant on internet seems fair. And not insane as it was expected. Sold below $50 as futures, this proposal for a second growth seems attractive, and more particularly for a wine which “is the finest Gruaud Larose since the 1990" according to Robert Parker and which should "last for 30-40".With a 94-97 score in Wine Spectator, this "big wine" seems a good opportunity for wine lovers. Will this announcement from Château Gruaud Larose give a clear indication for the whole market of 2009 top Bordeaux Futures? Yes and this clear indication is that everything is unclear...Thinking about En Primeur prices reminds us of the definition given by most experts of the quality of this 09 vintage: heterogeneity. 2009 Futures Prices like quality will be heterogeneous. And this is a fact now, 2009 Château Gruaud Larose EP price (a mere 12% increase compared to 2005 future for this wine) shows that some châteaux at top level will stay reasonable. Now let's see first growths which should release their futures over the month. And let's see how speculation could impact some of these wines which, without having announced yet EP prices, are already proposed by some wine merchants to collectors... (Find some more news on www.vitabella.fr).