Neal Martin releases in-bottle scores for Bordeaux 2014

This week, Neal Martin who has taken over from Robert Parker published a report containing in-bottle scores for Bordeaux 2014. He suggests that, “2014 Bordeaux is a very good to excellent vintage, however it is unequivocally not in the same realm as 2005, 2009 or 2010, nor does it boast the snow-capped peaks that you occasionally find with respect to 2015.”

Despite this, he says that there is “still much to admire”, noting that “many appear to have blossomed during their élevage and in bottle”.

Here is a list of the top scores from Neal Martin

Vintage	Wines	In Barrel Score	In Bottle Score
2014	Haut Brion Blanc	95-97	97
2014	Trotanoy	94-96	97
2014	Ducru Beaucaillou	94-96	96
2014	Montrose	95-97	96
2014	Haut Brion	93-95	96
2014	Cheval Blanc	(95 – 97)	96
2014	Latour	(95 – 97)	96
2014	Leoville-Las Cases	94-96	96
2014	Montrose	96	96
2014	Pavie	94-96	95
2014	Ausone	93-95	95
2014	Chateau Margaux	93-95	95
2014	Cos d’Estournel	93-95	94
2014	Ducru Beaucaillou	94-96	96
2014	Lafite-Rothschild	94-96	95
2014	Leoville-Barton	92-94	94
2014	Leoville-Poyferre	91-93	93+
2014	Angelus	91-93	93
2014	Mouton-Rothschild	94-96	95
2014	Petrus	93-95	93
2014	Pichon-Longueville Baron	92-94	94
2014	Pichon-Lalande	93-95	93
2014	Pontet-Canet	93-95	94

Market analysis

Our recent recommendations Angelus 2014 was scored on the higher end of the original score with 93 and Pavie 2014 was awarded 95 points.

Neal Martin noted that only 28 wines out of 98 had increased in value since their en primeur release when priced in US dollar. Compared when priced in sterling, there were 90 out of 98 wines that had shown an increase.

This presents an opportunity to buy into the 2014 vintages using US Dollar, given you can still buy a vintage that is now in the bottle with clear scores for its quality at the same price when it was in the barrel with unknown quality. Less risk but plenty of upside.

Neil commented that “savvy buyers will find plenty of good quality wines that will begin to increase in value”. “I doubt that 2016 will be cheap and given the sentiment, more expensive comparative to 2015. This will inevitably put pressure on well-priced and available vintages, the most attractive pair being 2012 and 2014”.

You can review Neal Martin’s report at www.robertparker.com