Bordeaux 2006: The Great Surprise Vintage
By Chris Adams, Sherry-Lehmann
Over the past year, the whole team at Sherry-Lehmann has been working hard on this summer’s upcoming move to a bigger and better location at 505 Park Avenue (at 59th St.). As with any endeavor of its scale, we’ve experienced our ups and downs. In general, when a surprise has popped up—and they always will—we’ve been racing to anxious meetings and making quick phone calls to work through it.
Given the timing for the planning of our move, Michael Aaron and I made our trip to Bordeaux a little later than usual this year. As we read the early reports of the vintage conditions we weren’t expecting to be blown away.
Chris Adams with HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg
We certainly weren’t anticipating any surprises.
What we found, though, was a Bordeaux vintage 2006 that was a great surprise. Notably, the quality at the best estates is unquestionable.
The Wines
At the more notable terroirs, where the Chateaux had the resources and skills to manage the conditions, very expressive, ripe and complete wines were produced. 2006 is not at the level of quality as 2005. We might call it a “spottier” vintage. In every commune, from St. Emilion to St. Estephe, there are successes, but with the exception of Pomerol no commune can be deemed a sure success.
In very general terms, then, 2006 will be a vintage that reinforces the strength of the 1855 Classification on the left bank, and where we’ll focus on the traditionally strong properties on the right bank; add to this mix the more select list of emerging Bordeaux properties that were able to make a very good wine.
Whereas we offered nearly 200 different wines in 2005; we expect that our 2006 offering will be more like half that—somewhere in the “100 wines” neighborhood. As always we will focus on quality.
A Note on Pricing
Bordeaux has long been Sherry-Lehmann’s largest selling category. We’ve been offering Bordeaux Futures since the 1959 vintage, and introduced many of the most popular Chateaux to the American market. What has changed in the past year especially is that Bordeaux has gone from being not only our largest selling category but also to becoming our hottest selling category. The growth has been and continues to be phenomenal.
This growth has been fed by an international demand, the scale of which we’ve simply never seen. This demand has driven replacement prices up for all Bordeaux vintages, and has set the stage for a new level of pricing for these wines.
What we know from experience is that very good to great Bordeaux from the finest Chateaux increased in value over the years. What we’re seeking in our 2006 purchases are Chateaux were the quality is very high and the price is realistic in the international market.
We are offering these wines because we feel it makes sense for you to buy them—based on their price, their limited availability or a combination of the two.