Well it’s that time of the year again. UK release of DRC is next week and that means all the stats and tasting notes are out.
Good news for the consumer is that reviews are stellar for this vintage. Bad news for everyone is yields were down 50% from 2017 on most of the reds. Only 336 cases of RC. That means RC is going to be as scarce as Monty typically is.
RSV is now listed after and more expensive than Richebourg. Last year they were equal for the first time.
UK prices are up about 10% across the board. Seems like all but the lucky few can look forward to a cluster across the board with everyone being disappointed in low allocations and the typical offenders gouging on prices even more than usual.
In the UK, the offer is out but they take a bit of time to finalize allocations… RC, Tâche and Richebourg are down the most over 2017, I guess due to disease pressure in that sector of Vosne, but less bad for the rest apparently. I am guessing that anyone who got wine in 2016 will get wine in 2018. But we will see.
LOL fair enough Dennis, but I’m not sure it’s the critics’ “ratings” that are actually overdone. IIRC (and I don’t tend to check this religiously) the ratings for most DRC wines are in line with those of other, much cheaper, producers. For example, the rather smart Bouchard Montrachet 2014 will clock you up an extra point or so over the 2014 DRC one. A Bruno Clair Beze will rate as highly as a weedy RSV. It’s actually a bit surprising - given the pedestal they are on - that DRC’s wines are NOT consistently “rated” higher or much higher than everyone else !
Wouldn’t waste my money on that. It’s not worth the price, not the direct allocation price and for sure not secondary market price (2.5x). It’s usually a 90/92 points experience at best. To bet your money on that would ultimately lead to an akward and disappointing Birthday in 20 years time. So many much better wines for the same price out there. Buy a case of Trapet Chambertin instead of two bottles of Corton.