Thank you, Jancis

I can’t say I’m not going to gloat.

When the likes of Jancis Robinson MW say ‘I do increasingly feel like a pawn in a game designed to part you with as much money as possible’, my self-indulgent, long-winded, overwrought rants against the Bordeaux En Primeur system acquire a certain validity.

Although I’d like to thank Jancis for lending weight to my words, I must admit that my ego is conversely bruised in having its voice removed from the fringes of the wine world and put into the public arena (like when your favourite band becomes popular).

Although I understand I’m a filthy cross between arrogance and smugness right now, I can’t help underlining that her words – ‘I can see that I play a part in a process that really does not benefit the consumer’ – are merely mine writ larger.

But perhaps I flatter myself to believe I’d been the driving force here. Whether I am or not, it’s clear that my opinions have resonance and it matters little if I believe this comes from me, or simply remark that these notions of En Primeur as a money-making circus have gained ground because they are obvious.

But they are only obvious to some. As Robinson points out, James Suckling is trying to get his wine scores out earlier even than the embargo. You might think I’d take this as a prime example of the issues… I’d say two things: whatever you lay at Suckling’s feet, you have to lay at the feet of all those who taste a wine in a pre-pubescent state; and that it tells us a lot about ourselves that we want to read it. In this case hype is a two-way thing: we readers want to read it; the chateaux owners want to read it too.

In this year’s case, though, Suckling might have done more than he possibly could to raise the issue of hyping, scoring and tasting wines before they’re blended, bottled and priced.

What Suckling has done in breaking the embargo (and I see nothing wrong in doing that) is to concentrate our minds on what we are reading and why we want to read it. We might scoff at Suckling tasting wines that have only just gone through malolactic fermentation (Natural Wine lovers take note: surely none of our top Bordeaux goes through natural malo if they need the wines to be ready by a certain date), but what difference does it make whether there is an embargo or not? What difference does it make if Suckling is tasting and rating the berries before they are even harvested? None, of course. It’s barely-legal but they don’t care – and nor will the consumers as long as Suckling warbles about the wines like a wagtail on speed.

Think about it. What happens when Suckling rates a vintage badly before anyone else? Do you think the Bordelais will enjoy the knock-on effect on the psyche of other tasters? I doubt it. They might even think about forcing Suckling to taste with the rest of them. And pop goes Suckling’s avant-premieres. You could almost argue that this is true for the whole early-tasting idea: it encourages positivity.

And so I think the Floppy-Haired One will start people thinking about the nature of this hype-machine…Jancis certainly has. It’s also clear from his words that Anthony Hanson MW has too:

[In releasing scores later – when the Bordelais have published their prices] you can advise your readers what’s a good deal and what’s not. You could be a real consumer advocate.

Which implies that the rest of the wine writers and reviewers at En Primeur are not real consumer advocates. Hurts, eh, Mr. Parker?

So, yes, my smugness will not diminish for a long time, but nor will my scepticism: I think wine journalists and critics are as likely to take what Robinson is tabling with any seriousness as much as the Bordelais are likely to be overcome with a sense of decency and lower their prices to more affordable levels.