Firstly, very many thanks to the 268 Purple Pagers who took the trouble to complete our six-question survey designed to quantify the level of interest in tasting notes on Bordeaux 2011 primeurs this April. These survey results (see below) complement all the comments made on the Who is interested in Bordeaux 2011s en primeur? thread on our Members' forum, which, at the time of writing, has already attracted 66 comments and 3,620 views.
I think we can assume that those who took the trouble to respond to our survey are slightly more likely to be interested in Bordeaux than those who didn't (see answers to Question 5), but even among those respondents, a small majority, 53%, said that they thought it would be better to judge the wines once they were in bottle (see Question 3).
The key findings are:
A small majority, 51% of respondents, are not planning to buy but would be interested to read our tasting notes on the Bordeaux 2011 primeurs. While 21% of respondents said in Question 1 that they were not really interested at all in primeurs tasting notes, that proportion rose to 34% when we put the question a different way in Question 2.
A very significant 40% said in Question 4 that they'd be interested in actually buying the wines only if opening prices are at least 50% lower than they were in 2010. Of course it costs nothing to ask for a cut price, but only 3% said they would be interested in buying the 2011s if prices came down by only 10% on 2010 levels.
Admittedly in Question 5 I should have added an option for those who bought none of the vintages 2005-2010 inclusive, but I must say that I was surprised by what a high proportion of respondents had bought these vintages, with the most popular vintage being 2009, bought by 81% of respondents. Second most popular was 2005, bought by 69%. But even the overpriced 2010s were bought by 59% of respondents.
But then in Question 6, 80% said they had bought or would buy Burgundy 2010s, and 75% said the same about Rhône 2010s. Wise respondents!
So, as a result of all this, we do plan to provide you with a report on the 2011 Bordeaux primeurs and, as usual, will include notes on as many wines as possible (even though storage charges etc mean that it makes much less financial sense to buy the least expensive wines en primeur). Last year, for instance, our 2010 Bordeaux primeur report included more than 600 tasting notes. But since there is unlikely to be frantic demand for these wines, we will publish only when we are satisfied that everything has been checked, edited and ordered. We will not participate in a race to report – and we certainly won't be tweeting about individual wines as we taste them!
1. Are you interested in having detailed tasting notes and scores on hundreds of Bordeaux 2011s as usual on this site this April?
Definitely, because I intend to buy some: 28.4% (76)
Yes, but probably for academic interest only: 50.7% (136)
Not much: 17.9% (48)
Definitely not: 3% (8)
2. Which of these best describes your level of interest in the Bordeaux 2011 primeurs?
I'd be interested in as many tasting notes as possible: 42.7% (114)
I'm interested but only in the top 60 or so wines: 23.2% (62)
I'm not really interested in notes on such young wines: 16.5% (44)
I'm not really interested in Bordeaux at the moment: 17.6% (47)
3. Would it be a better idea to wait until, say, 2013 and report on the Bordeaux 2011s once they are in bottle?
Yes: 52.8% (141)
No: 47.2% (126)
4. By how much would opening prices of the Bordeaux 2011s have to be reduced, relative to the opening prices of the 2010s, to persuade you to be interested in buying them?
10%: 3.1% (8)
20%: 8.8% (23)
25%: 18.1% (47)
30%: 29.2% (76)
50%: 40.8% (106)
5. Which of the following recent Bordeaux vintages did you buy?
2010: 59.4% (151)
2009: 81.1% (206)
2008: 62.6% (159)
2007: 26.0% (66)
2006: 48.8% (124)
2005: 68.9% (175)
6. Have you bought, or are you planning to buy, the following:
Burgundy 2010: 79.7% (184)
Rhône 2010: 74.9% (173)
