SPHERE
#42
2017
11
>>
The Dutch were among the first
négociants
: buyers, storage
providers and distributors of
Bordeaux as early as 1620.
CHÂTEAUWATSON’S
Jeremy Stockman, General Manager of
Watson’s Wine, introduced
Sphere
to
the mysteries of the modern
en primeur
system. He and his team travel to Bordeaux
every year to make decisions that influence
Bordeaux consumption in Hong Kong,
Macau, Shanghai and beyond (via internet
sales). While Watson’s Wine satisfies
a wide range of wine buyers through a
comprehensive programme of training staff
to taste and source wines from around the
world, buying Bordeaux is a process in a
class of its own.
It is impossible to visit all of the 200 oldest
châteaux to evaluate the wines that the
négociants
will make available in limited
allotments. But Watson’s Wine team do visit
a great many of them, scoresheets in hand.
Mr Stockman elucidates, “What tends to
happen is that we go to the most important
ones. We may do 10 a day for the top 100.
For the next 100 the industry gathers them
together in one place so we can taste the
whole lot together.”
The tasting is trusted to those with the
most experienced palates, who are not
tasting the wines as they are, but as they
will be. It’s a little like looking at a 10-year-
old and deciding on a contract for the
Premier League footballer they’ll be as an
adult. Nonetheless, decisions are made.
“We then buy those wines, and they are
bottled about 18–24 months later. So you
are buying a future. But we get a good
sense of what the wine will become. It has
already had around six months resting in
the barrel so we can evaluate the quality of
the young wine,” says Mr Stockman.
While Robert Parker’s scores may have set
the global tone in the past, Watson’s Wine
buyers and store managers are expected
to have their own opinions that may show
independence from the global consensus.
“A few years ago, Parker was God. And
if Parker said, in his magazine
The Wine
Advocate
, it’s a 100 point, everybody would
go with it. Simple as that.” However, Robert
Parker retired specifically from evaluating
Bordeaux futures in 2015 (he now only
reviews Napa Valley wines), opening up
the market for a wider range of opinions to
be expressed.
The wine world waited to see what the
impact of losing that authoritative voice
would be. Parker sold his publication, print
BORDEAUX’S
CENTURIES-OLD
DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM
Vintners and Courtiers
Négociants
Global buyers
and online, to a Singaporean group that
keeps the name in play, even if the man
himself has semi-retired to California.
Many consumers still gravitate to the
brand and follow its judgement. No
similarly authoritative voices have risen
above the fray to match Parker’s weight
in the wine world, so his name and
the editorial team behind it live on.
Neal Martin assumed “full reviewer
coverage” with Mr Parker’s blessing
and has maintained a following.
Buyers in Watson’s Wine’s world know
their wines and won’t feel the loss too
keenly. “The Hong Kong market is very
savvy and many customers are very
knowledgeable. They know the châteaux
they follow each year,” says Mr Stockman.
And they have the direct tasting of the
Watson’s Wine team to help them along.
“So you taste them all. You give all
your scores, make your decision, have
discussions with the châteaux, and show
respect to the châteaux so they can give
you allocations for supporting them.”
Mr Stockman and his tasting team
travelled to Bordeaux in late March this
year to take in the first sampling of the
2016 vintage, still in the barrel. Weather
this year saw heavy rains early in the
season, followed by a very dry summer
which was ideal, and then a brief wet
period in mid-September allowing perfect
ripening. What became evident was the
homogeneity in this vintage – the brief late
rain benefited all, and all communes on
both the Left Bank and Right Bank (Médoc
and St Emilion/Pomerol) produced grapes
with perfect ripeness. The verdict?
An “extremely good year” in the words of
Mr Stockman. There is a game whereby the
producers talk up the year as possibly the
