Brace yourself, Bordeaux...

Edward Burns, of Armit Fine Wines, ‘We literally haven’t offered anything that has come out so far. Even with Sauternes having a good year quality-wise, we can’t see customers being interested at these prices. In previous years, we have offered wines with a proven history, this year we are only going to buy wines that have had specific enquiries from our customers.’

'We have picked out 40 wines we are keen on, another 20 that if prices are good we will buy. We have culled a whole load off our list. Campaign seems to have started, but even from customer end things are quiet. Head of private clients has had some interest, but it will be purely for drinking wines. The Bordelais have the opinion that Asia is going to save them, but I can't see it.'

Alan Rayne, chairman of Magnums: ‘We have been one of the biggest buyers of primeurs for the last 23 yars in Bordeaux, and unless the prices are realistic we are just going to opt out of the vintage. We have bought ever year since 1988, and the problem is that all the sellers and all our private clients are saying unless they see value, they don’t need to buy them. And similarly we don’t need to buy them. We are vibrant buyers, but still reckon that if the chateaux are not realistic, 80% of the end consumers will back off.'

'There are only going to be a few exceptions this year. We couldn’t care less about allocations the following year - with exception of about 10 chateaux, allocations don't exist anymore, as long as you have a good reputation, you can find the wines you want.'

'The little chtx coming out now can't be selling – the sauternes are good, but what people have got to look at is they can buy the 2001 for a better price than the 2007 today, so why buy an 07 when you can buy a better vintage for less?'

'Again with the 07 reds, you can buy the 04 cheaper, so why wouldn’t you??'

'Realistically, prices have to be down by 20% to start with for exchange rate, then down from last year by 10% = 35% lower ex-chateau. That means, with margins added, if you see a 15% discount selling price from last year, it could be worth buying, if less than that, unlikely to be worth it.

'1997 was a worrying precuror of this - the chateaux came out at much too high a price, and went down 30-50% afterwards. They didn't care as they sold their wines, but a lot of merchants got stuck with low value wines and pissed off customers. And we don't want that to happen again.'

'On the other hand, there are some very well-made wines out there, there have been some great cabernet franc and good cabernet sauvignon, as ong as winemakers concentrated on terrroir. Over-extraction this year was bad, need instead elegance and terroir. Anything else forget it; in five years it will dry up like a prune. '

Simon Staples at Berry Bros: ‘We have a list of 45 wines that we really want, had 82 last year, 180 in 2005. I know how difficult it is to make Sauternes so don’t have a beef with their prices. But I don’t adhere to the idea that it is close to 2001 in terms of quality. We will be buying for our mixed case, Liquid Gold, in halves, but not other Sauternes.

We have just had our biggest 24 hours of the year, however, selling 2005 Bordeaux. And Parker's scores are coming out on April 30, with 2007 Bordeaux and final 2005 Bordeaux scores. That should make for uncomfortable reading for many chateaux.'

'You cant beat them to death with the euro stick, as it's not their fault. But most have made simple, drinkable wines, and a lot of second wines are pretty awful, really quite unpleasant. So on quality alone, discounting the euro, prices should be 20-30% lower'.

'Exceptions were Pontet Canet, Haut Bailly, Lynch Bages who all made rigorous selection, and have made far less first wine than usual = already a significant drop in potential revenue for them. But at the end of the day, if you want to keep the same customer for your wine each year, like Barton, or Cazes do, you need to give a nod towards the market. I think many negociants are going to be stuck with stock for the next few years. And it’s a dangerous tack to take to think they can ‘dupe’ asian buyers.'

Private customers in the uk will buy a few gems, probably Domaine de Chevalier red and white, Haut Bailly, Lynch Bages, that’s about it... people shouldn’t fill their cellars with this, because it's going to be the same price when it comes out, particularly if the euro swings back.'