The Chateau waited to be the very last significant winery to release the offer with prices - negociant offer of 528 Euro ex-cellars.
All of the other 1st Growth’s were released at 408 Euro, uniformly, (without collusion - merely a coincidence)
Lafite came out at 470 Euro’s,
and some how Pierre Lurton - Director of the Chateau, believes that their wine is worth 120 Euro’s more than the other 1st Growth’s.
I hope that the public votes with their feet and walks away,
The only industry I am aware of that so many of the manufacturer’s of the product have so little regard for their consumers, or business partners.
Cheval Blanc is a lovely wine that anyone can purchase at all reliable retailers - back vintages for $350 - $500.oo/btl.
Or plunk down close to $700/btl and wait 2.5 years for the new release to end up at your local retailer?
if it was me, I would go to my local store and purchase the 2015 or 2016 which are considered finer vintages and available now.
Wine Advocate rates the 2015 & '16 at 100 pts…
I think if Cheval Blanc get’s away with this price increase other Chateaux will follow along.
These Bordelaise do not need any encouragement to stick it to their consumers.
It is really too bad such a beautiful thing as fine wine attracts this element of greedy bastards who abuse their privilege and position of being a temporary steward of the Chateaux.
When you dig into the question of “what does it cost a winery to produce their product?” - the single largest expense is the land acquisition.
Imagine the position these Chateaux are in having taken care of that cost so long ago and no need to amortize that annual expense.
When farming becomes your largest cost - then you realize the amount of money going into the pockets of the owners.
And of course the French tax system is possibly suffocating - if you report all of the actual income,
just ask winery owner, Gérard Depardieu - who relocated to Russia to avoid the French taxes…
I digress, Cheval Blanc, has decided to demand more of the public.