Notebooks and pen in one hand, a glass in the other, hundreds of merchants, brokers and distributors from around sixty countries sniff, taste and spit out the latest 2021 vintage of the great wines of the Bordeaux vineyards in the hall of Hangar 14 , an exhibition hall on the quays of the Garonne in Bordeaux.

For the big return of "large format" face-to-face tastings, up to 5,000 customers are expected from April 25 to 28, an influx almost from before the pandemic, by the organizer of the primeurs week, the Union des Grands crus de Bordeaux (Ugcb) which brings together 130 producers.

According to the unique model of primeurs, these wines tested at the end of April will be marketed over seven weeks between the beginning of May and mid-June, but delivered only in 18 to 24 months.

A system that allows buyers to benefit from advantageous prices, and producers to have cash and avoid stocks when these wines are generally consumable several years later.

Opening of the primeurs season, a unique system for the sale of Bordeaux grands crus, on April 25, 2022 in Bordeaux Philippe LOPEZ AFP

These orders can represent between 50 and 100% of the turnover of the wine châteaux participating in the event, explains the boss of the Ugcb Ronan Laborde.

- "Zoom tasting" -

After two years of "Zoom tasting", via the sending of refrigerated samples to the four corners of the world, "which has its limits", "it is important that customers see our estate, the selection that we carry out. does not sell potatoes, but a somewhat subjective product, which has history, it takes human beings", justifies Miguel Aguirre, technical director of Château la Tour-Blanche, in Sauternes.

According to this manager, orders during the marathon primeurs season should represent all of its 2021 production, as volumes were severely restricted by the spring frost.

For the wine merchant Alexandra Adamian, "discussing with the properties when you taste it changes everything" because "from a distance with a sample that can turn in two seconds, the customer who receives it in Japan, he thinks the wine is bad and that is finished".

Opening of the primeurs season, a unique system for the sale of Bordeaux grands crus, on April 25, 2022 in Bordeaux Philippe LOPEZ AFP

Standing on a tasting stand after several glasses of St-Emilion and Pomerol turned in the mouth, this co-director of the Bordeaux Tradition house expects a "balanced 2021 vintage", despite a cool and complicated climate, which will be " faster ready to drink" than the three previous years deemed "exceptional trilogy" in Bordeaux.

But for other buyers, such as the Bordeaux merchant Thibaud Rivière or the Czech distributor Vit Bartosek interviewed in the hall, the "intimate formats" with a rotation of 5-6 testers set up inside a few large castles during the pandemic, allowed "better concentration", "more professional" of buyers, rather than XXL tastings "and their worldly side" and "noisy".

Opening of the primeurs season, a unique system for the sale of Bordeaux grands crus, on April 25, 2022 in Bordeaux Philippe LOPEZ AFP

After this "large format" session, from Tuesday to Thursday, several vineyard castles will open their doors to professionals to discover the primeur wines of 14 appellations, indicates Mr. Laborde who has also maintained the expensive shipment of refrigerated samples to certain Asian customers, faced with an upsurge in Covid-19.

This year, despite the arrival of nearly 40% of foreign buyers, about 400 customers were missing, most from China and Asia, concedes Mr. Laborde.

Mainland China and Hong Kong remain the leading importers of Bordeaux wines, with 616 million euros of purchases in 2021.

© 2022 AFP