En Primeur 2021 Releases: June 17th
Giles Cooper, Bordeaux Index Buyer
17 June 2022
In what looks like the final day of the campaign proper (with just a handful of releases to come) we have a mighty impressive pairing of Figeac and La Conseillante, two of the wines of the vintage.
Chateau Figeac is in our view one of the most exciting estates in St Emilion today. Their 2021 has been released this morning at GBP 1956 per 12. Volumes are down 25%.
Given the array of critical praise, Figeac 2021 can comfortably be considered as one of the wines of the vintage. The 2021 is the first wine to be made in a truly ground-breaking, astonishing new winery (we were fortunate enough to be invited to the inauguration party for the building and it is truly breath-taking) and it is genuinely serendipitous that so many of the tools which are now at their disposal were so very needed! The resulting wine feels like it came from a different vintage to many of its peers.
Their 2021 is the epitome of Figeac; the texture and fruit richness places one foot in its true home on the Right Bank, whilst the stunningly pure blackcurrant fruit, pencil lead and graphite characters hint towards the Left Bank. It is truly a unique property and this is a fabulous expression thereof. Furthermore as something of a darling of the market, back vintages have seen good price performance.
Also from here we have the second wine Petit Figeac at GBP 432 per 12.
We also have the wonderful 2021 La Conseillante at GBP 1884 per 12. This is virtually flat on the 2020 price and comfortably below the physical 2019 and 2018 vintages and reflects the seismic, and continued, shift in style and increase in quality over the past 5 years. The bottle and case will also be subtly marked to commemorate the 150th anniversary of La Conseillante.
Not easy to find further down the track, especially when volume is down 20% as in the case of the 2021, this is one wine we always recommend picking up on release – and with global demand on a dramatic upward curve it has rarely been more important to secure your share at EP stage.