Inside Bordeaux with One of the World’s Top Wine Critics: In Conversation with Jane Anson

Noted author and wine critic Jane Anson has lived in Bordeaux since 2003 and is author of numerous classic works, including Inside Bordeaux (2020) and Bordeaux Legends, a history of the 1855 First Growth wines (2013), as well as co-author or translator of over a dozen wine and travel books. After almost 20 years as Bordeaux correspondent and columnist for Decanter magazine, she launched the Inside Bordeaux website. Jane is considered one of the world’s premier authorities on Bordeaux, from its history to its economy.

She spoke to Areni Global CEO Pauline Vicard and Editorial Director Felicity Carter about the function of La Place de Bordeaux, the distribution system that is growing in international importance.

Pauline Vicard

Before you arrived in Bordeaux, what was your impression of La Place?

Jane Anson

I’m not sure I really had any impression of it. I don’t think I really understood the mechanism by which Bordeaux wines went out to the rest of the world. And perhaps in the early years I probably thought like most people did, that you imagine there is a physical place that the Place is actually somewhere where you have all of these different businesses instead of what it actually is, which is a virtual network. So it joins brokers, it joins wine merchants, it joins the châteaux. And I think the other thing that’s really important that I didn’t understand is that all of those points of the triangle are internal to Bordeaux.

Pauline Vicard

So how long did it take you to understand how it worked?

Jane Anson

I think it’s like a layering of understanding just how interconnected all the different parts of Bordeaux is. I would say it is one of the things that made Bordeaux so interesting to me and why I think it kept me interested in how Bordeaux functions, because the more you learn about La Place, the more you understand how different it actually is from the way that most other wine regions do business. And there’s so much history involved and obviously economics and yeah, I think it was one of the things that fascinated me about Bordeaux.

The more you learn about La Place, the more you understand how different it actually is from the way that most other wine regions do business.

Jane Anson

If we go back just as far as the 17th or 18th century, then you could kind of think of the Place as being the Chartrons quayside. The negociants were along that stretch of water and they would’ve rolled their barrels containing the wine out from their cellars to the waiting ships. Even that’s forgetting the third part, which is the chateaux who were always of course out of the city centre. Its modern form is much more recent. And I think as with so much in modern Bordeaux, you can probably date it to 1982 because that was really when this idea of how Bordeaux did business suddenly had some element of consumer involvement and suddenly became more interesting for many different wine merchants.

Felicity Carter

What happened in 1982?

Jane Anson

Up until 1982, the Place was really about getting the wines from the château to the négociants via the courtier. The négociants — the wine merchants — would’ve been the people who were ageing it and would’ve sold it on. And when it was being sold on, it was probably going to maybe 20 different big buyers at that point, maybe in northern Europe. So places like Switzerland and Belgium; maybe to the US and to the UKs. Along comes 1982 and there’s suddenly this rise of interest from consumers.

Robert Parker gave 100 points to Mouton Rothschild and to Petrus. The general buzz around that vintage meant that all of a sudden consumers were asking to buy and so were lots of other wine merchants. And that was really the first time that négociants were selling to other négociants in a serious way. All of a sudden négociant A is saying to négociant B, “Hang on a minute, I want some Lafite. I know you’ve got some in your cellars, can I buy it from you?” And so then this big internal marketplace suddenly became a lot bigger. And what does that mean? It means there’s a lot more money being generated within the Place itself because on every single transaction within the Place your broker is making 2%. So if the broker is making 2% just going from château to négociant, that’s one 2%. But if he’s then selling on between the négociants, then that 2% is getting to be another 2%, another 2%, and suddenly brokers are making a lot more money.

Pauline Vicard

Have we seen the number of members of La Place exploding since 1982?

Jane Anson

When I moved to Bordeaux in 2003, there were maybe 400 négociants and about, I think, 140 courtiers. Today you are talking to about 300 négociants and maybe 70 different brokers, but there are only maybe 10 courtiers who really deal with the top estates. For the négociants, there are probably 40 or 50 again that are seriously important. So I wouldn’t say numbers have massively exploded. No, it’s more money going through the Place.

Felicity Carter

I’m just wondering about 2008 when suddenly the Chinese market took off. Did that change the nature of La Place?

Jane Anson

I think Bordeaux got incredibly lucky in 2008 because the economics globally were imploding. Bordeaux was kind of rescued at that point by China coming into the market. Bordeaux had dropped its prices in 2008; remember Bordeaux is reactive. It holds off for as long as it can, but then it is able to be reactive. And so China came in at that moment when prices were low. And so it protected Bordeaux from making some structural changes that probably it should have made at that point.

Felicity Carter

Can you talk about what some of those changes are?

Jane Anson

To be truly successful on the Place you have to be able to put your prices down as well as up. That has seen Bordeaux successfully through many centuries of difficult times economically, knowing that you can drop your prices if you have to. You might not want to, but you can do it. I think that the younger generation of people in châteaux today may not have learned that lesson as well as they could have done.

To be truly successful on the Place you have to be able to put your prices down as well as up. That has seen Bordeaux successfully through many centuries of difficult times economically. I think that the younger generation of people in châteaux today may not have learned that lesson as well as they could have done.

Jane Anson

Pauline Vicard

We are entering a new cycle of crisis. We’re In a similar position to 2008, but it doesn’t seem that Russia nor China, nor the US nor Brazil nor India, nor any kind of market will change or become suddenly extremely interested in fine wine in the next few months. So do you think this is the year where people will have to make a change?

Jane Anson

I don’t think structurally we’re going to see seismic changes yet. I think there are a couple of signs of where we might see the market going. There are these kinds of real flagship wines that don’t sell En Primeur. I think maybe a bigger sign is what happened with the Rothschilds buying Goedhuis in the UK. So there is a clear wish and a desire to get closer to the end consumer. And it’s fascinating to see what will happen because at that same time, and I know we’re going to talk about this in more detail later, but at that same time, many of those big international wines are choosing to come through the Place system.

Felicity Carter

Obviously a great deal has changed in the last 21 years, but if you had to describe the changes, could you summarise them?

Jane Anson

I think one of the key changes is more transparency. You have players like Wine-Searcher and Liv-ex, who have really done a very successful and important job in shining a light on what happens. We’re seeing everything being much more data driven than it used to be.

I think one of the key changes is more transparency. […]. We’re seeing everything being much more data driven than it used to be.

Jane Anson

And in some ways the international wines have driven that because when you have people like Opus One coming onto the market, they really want to know exactly where their négociants are selling, because they’re used to knowing. And so that has made the Bordeaux châteaux realise they have more agency than maybe they realised.

Felicity Carter

What are the advantages and disadvantages of La Place?

Jane Anson

There are many advantages. I can be negative about the Place sometimes, but when you actually step back, one of the major advantages is the incredible distribution that they have and long standing, deep-seated understanding of different markets. By going through the Place, you are going to have access to at least 10,000 different clients around the world. There are 300 different negociant firms within Bordeaux, and some of them will be truly specialist in certain parts of China, others in India, others in whatever. And so having somebody on the ground who understands and can marry those two things is actually very important.

I would say the Place is not brilliant at building a brand. What it’s brilliant at is a capillary distribution.

Felicity Carter

That’s interesting, because I think there’s a perception from outside La Place that it is a place to burnish your brand. What do you think are other misunderstandings?

Jane Anson

I think one thing is nobody understands what courtiers do. The biggest misconception is that the Place is only about En Primeur. I think that’s probably the number one thing.

Pauline Vicard

Another misconception is that it is also just about fine wine, right?

Jane Anson

I think what you’ve just said is so important. When we said there are, say 70 brokers and 300 negociants, most of them will be dealing with less expensive wine or bulk wine. And there’s only 10 or 15 lucky guys who are dealing with those top classified estates. En Primeur is one tiny slice of that.

Felicity Carter

See, you’ve just enlightened me. I had no idea that they’re dealt in bulk wine.

Jane Anson

About 70% of Bordeaux wine overall will go through the Place. There’ll be others that go direct, but not many to be honest. It covers every single level of Bordeaux wine.

Felicity Carter

Why is La Place so misunderstood?

Jane Anson

I think it’s in their interest for it to be a little bit mysterious. And I think it is a genuinely complicated system.

A misconception can be that it’s super easy for négociants to make their 15% because they’re just selling En Primeur. But to get the right to have that allocation En Primeur, you have got to buy whatever the big châteaux ask you to buy throughout the year from their sellers. And it’s why you need deep pockets to be a négociant. Historically, and still true today, they’ll be buying from the châteaux at prices that the châteaux set, often that’s much higher than the market price and then they have to hold onto that wine until the market’s risen to make it worth their while.

Pauline Vicard

They really act as a bank.

Jane Anson

That’s exactly right. And today the banks themselves are not thrilled about helping that situation because interest rates are high and certainly higher than they’ve been. So that is another one of these crunch points that’s coming. It isn’t necessarily that structurally it’s not working, it’s that the external conditions, the market conditions, are changing. Négociants can’t continue to bankroll them in the same way.

Pauline Vicard

I’m  wondering what the impact of the ‘beyond Bordeaux’ wines has been.

Jane Anson

I’m going to start with a negative because I really think it’s very important. We’ve worked out this system of how négociants have to buy from the châteaux and in many ways the only clients for the châteaux are the négociants.

At the same time you have all of these big international wines coming in. Again, the négociant buys those because he sees the potential to make money. Great, but let’s say 50% of those international wines don’t sell through immediately; the négociant has to hold onto that stock. That means that there’s less liquidity in the market for the négociants to then do what they traditionally did, which was buying Crus Bourgeois. Those smaller châteaux struggle massively to get money because they’re not used to selling direct to consumers.

It’s really been dramatic, particularly for Crus Bourgeois. Their wines are a good price, often of really good quality, and they’re having a harder and harder time.

Pauline Vicard

So in some way, the ‘beyond Bordeaux’ wines have enlarged the gaps between the top wines of Bordeaux and the entry level well, or even middle range of Bordeaux wines. You’ve got Italy and California and top Bordeaux and they created a new category of international fine wine without borders, but that’s somehow disconnected Bordeaux from its roots and had an impact on the lower level of Bordeaux.

Jane Anson

That’s exactly right. And on the bright side, it has even more underlined the idea of Bordeaux as being a world capital of wine because it’s giving a warm welcome to those icon wines. But exactly as you say, the downside of it is this lack of liquidity for the smaller wines.

Felicity Carter

What is it that the ‘beyond Bordeaux’ wines offer? Why would they be more attractive than something that’s close to you that is also easy to sell?

Jane Anson

As with the top Bordeaux, there is more margin selling expensive wines than there is selling lower price wines. There’s also the prestige that’s associated with selling icon wines and Bordeaux has proved throughout the centuries that having some icon wines on your books is a great way to create buzz and to secure your own future as a business. So I think it’s extremely tempting and probably hard to turn it down.

Pauline Vicard

What could be the long-term or the midterm impact on the region should that gap between the top wines and the entry- medium level?

Jane Anson

We’re seeing it already. We’re seeing vines having to be pulled up. We are seeing a lot of Crus Bourgeois who are being bought up by the bigger guys. So I think it is changing the landscape.

Pauline Vicard

Do you see it impacting the attractiveness of the region in terms of tourism?

Jane Anson

I think Bordeaux has been counted out so many times and it always manages to find a way through. You look at 19th century writings about Bordeaux — what are people saying? They’re saying the top wines are too high, the prices are ridiculous, nobody’s going to want to buy them. And that turns out not to be the case again and again and again.

Bordeaux has been counted out so many times and it always manages to find a way through. You look at 19th century writings about Bordeaux — what are people saying? They’re saying the top wines are too high, the prices are ridiculous, nobody’s going to want to buy them. And that turns out not to be the case again and again and again.

Jane Anson

Felicity Carter

So this is probably a good time to start breaking down the system. Can we start with En Primeur?

Jane Anson

The perfect theory of En Primeur is that it’s offering a way for wine merchants and consumers to buy a wine that has been blended and put into barrel probably about a year before it’s released. And in theory, you’re getting it at the best price you are ever going to get. And also probably, even if that’s not the case, you might be getting it in formats that you want. You’re getting it in large formats in Magnums or whatever. And maybe in the best cases it’s a wine in which you will not be able to get later. There are probably 5,000 people that come to Bordeaux during the En Primeur season  and they’re tasting these wines.

Pauline Vicard

What is the relevance of the [1855] classification in the success of the En Primeur campaign?

Jane Anson

If we’re talking about the Place as a whole, then the classified wines are only a small portion. But if we’re talking about En Primeur, the classified wines and their equivalent are basically the beginning and the end.

Pauline Vicard

Does it make a big difference in the flexibility that you have if you’re a First Growth or Third Growth to drive the market?

Jane Anson

How does the châteaux set their price? So they are looking at a number of different things. One thing they are looking at is quality. They’ll be starting to think, okay, what kind of wine have I got this year? How much can I push my price purely because of quality? They’ll then be looking at how they sits in the marketplace. So that certainly classification is part of it. A First Growth will always have more power than a fifth growth to set his price highly. First Growths also have more flexibility and they are almost always the people who react quickest when they have to drop their price.

How does the châteaux set their price? They are looking at a number of different things. One thing they are looking at is quality. They’ll be starting to think, okay, what kind of wine have I got this year? How much can I push my price purely because of quality? Then, they will be looking at how they sits in the marketplace.

Jane Anson

Felicity Carter

Are the First Growth so responsive because they have the prestige and nothing to lose, or because they acknowledge they have a leadership role?

Jane Anson

I think they certainly do acknowledge they have a leadership role. I think they used to maybe feel that a little more strongly. It’s super interesting when Latour left the system — and remember, Latour did not leave the Place. It left En Primeur. However, when it left the En Primeur system, it was very interesting how emotionally people reacted to that within Bordeaux because they definitely felt that Latour was letting the side down. Now that it’s 10 or 12 years on, they have proven quite adept at getting their prices right when they’ve released.

But I think the great thing about En Primeur is that everybody’s eyes are on Bordeaux.

Pauline Vicard

I remember when I first visited Bordeaux, the impression that I had was that people observe what other people were doing in order to make their own decisions. Is that still the case?

Jane Anson

That absolutely is part of the equation. And that is where I think another reason why often the prices are wrong is because they think, well I want to be positioned at the top of the Second Growth category. So even if really the market conditions don’t allow it, I don’t want to drop down below that price because it won’t look good.

Only the Firsts can go up and down, but it won’t change the way they’re perceived.

Felicity Carter

You’re one of Bordeaux’s top wine critics. How do you describe your influence?

Jane Anson

Honestly I try not to think about that. Certainly not when I’m tasting En Primeur. I try truly to keep in mind the people who I want to be helping, who are the people who are subscribing to my site. My scores are used by a number of different merchants. So that’s an exciting influence, but truly I don’t think about it when I’m tasting the wines because it’s pointless.

Felicity Carter

One of the criticisms of wine critics is the raising of scores, this idea of score inflation. Do you think score inflation is a real thing or do you think it’s a response to the fact that quality has improved?

Jane Anson

Definitely a bit of both. There’s no question that there are less completely missed vintages than there used to be. Not just in Bordeaux, but globally, because technology allows people to respond better to problems.

Scores are very useful for wine investment but not for wine purchasing. I think for wine purchasing and actually drinking the wines, what you want to do is find a critic that you trust and that you think in some way reflects the wines you like yourself.

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