Last week was the second week of releases. It turns out to have been a Sauternes week. May be this will become a trend in years to come that the Sauterne release early – we’ll just have to see. Either way I think it was sensible as they have filled the “void” between the UGC Tastings and Vinexpo in Hong Kong (mid/late May). The Sauternes have far less, if any, following in Asia so the timing is sound. The releases: On Tuesday – Suduiraut (650), Guiraud (385), Sigalas-Rabaud (365) & Lafaurie Peyraguey (350) then followed on Friday by Rieussec (645) & Coutet (570). The pricing does seem to very much reflect the two tiers in Sauternes – the bigger names and then those potentially offering more value. The prices definitely approach the prices for mature or maturing vintages, for instance the only (available) vintage of Rieussec at a higher price is 2001 @ £895. This does hioghlight that there are some great sauternes on the market if you ae after the 4star vintages – 1996, 1997, 1999 etc

Then on to this week where there was a significant release – Gazin (545) – this sold very fast, faster than expected in honesty. As I sit here nothing else has come out. It will be interesting to see if other things do appear this week. We will end the week on a high with the release of the Moueix and Mitjavile offers – both will be on allocation.

More news to follow