Bordeaux can still be a bargain

So, the phoney war is drawing to a close. According to an arcane pecking order modified by obscure gesture politics, the prices of all of the Bordeaux 2000s are emerging, one by one, like tank barrels poking out from the bushes.

As I wrote back in April, this is a fine vintage which no red-wine lover or cellar-builder should over-look ( CLICK HERE for a guide to the new batch of Bordeaux, and HERE for a guide to the best bottles to buy). Prices, though, are critical in judging whether or not to buy en primeur. What gives?

Something interesting. The Bordeaux price spectrum is beginning to stretch and expand like the art market. At the top level, in other words, wine is ceasing to be wine: it is becoming a financial instrument, a unit in a balanced investment portfolio, the ultimate status symbol for those who already have the Ferrari, the butler and the private holiday island.

All over this enormous region, keen individual proprietors are making the thousand decisions of apparent sacrifice which will result in startlingly improved wine. It didn't used to be worthwhile; they had no idea how to do it anyway. It is now worthwhile, and there is plenty of information (from their friends, their neighbours and their winemaking consultants) about how to do it. The quality trickledown from the top properties is beginning to bite.

This, then, is the stop-press story of the 2000s in Bordeaux: great Bordeaux is stretching downwards in price as well as upwards. At the bottom end of the en primeur spectrum, you can buy wines at between £50 and £200 a case which represent some of the best red-wine value I have ever written about in this newspaper.

Even if you insist on buying only according to Parker points, you can still find amazing value. A Pomerol with a long track record such as L'Eglise-Clinet has been scored by Parker at 90 to 92 and costs £1,100: that's £12 per Parker point. A little-known, up-and-coming St Emilion such as Grand Corbin Despagne has been scored by Parker at 89 to 91 and costs £115: just £1.27 per Parker point.

Even when you have paid duty, VAT, a few year's storage and delivery, these wines are not expensive. A £115 en primeur case will work out at about £15 a bottle after three year's storage, delivered in its wooden box as it begins to drink well in 2005. If you buy that wine from a merchant in 2005, it will certainly cost more. There is only one way for prices like these to go.

The strategy is clear, then. Unless your butler is reading this over the phone to you on your private island, get hold of as many offers from reputable, well-established merchants as you can, study very carefully the data they provide on 2000 red Bordeaux at less than £200, and fill yer boots. You won't regret it.

From my 2000 Bordeaux tasting notebook, the following top-scoring wines have all opened at £150 or less: Belgrave (90) £105, Cambon la Pelouse (91) £78, Clos Badon Thunevin (90) £145, Clos Ren? (89) £145, Cote de Baleau (90) £98, Croix Canon (89) £85, Cruzelles (89) £125, Duhart Milon (91) £145, Fombrauge (91) £120, Grand Corbin Despagne (90) £115, Grand Puy Ducasse (91) £140, Haut-Chaigneau (89) £100, Marbuzet (91) £145, Petite Eglise (88) £130, Potensac (90) £105, Saintaym? (89) £65, La Tour Carnet (88) £120, Villa Bel Air (88) £55.

It seems likely that the 2000 M?doc first growths - Cheval Blanc, Ausone and their like - will open at between £1,000 and £2,000 a case. Whatever the price, it will immediately rise by up to 30 per cent as all those who must have a particular wine buy it from those who were lucky enough to be allocated it. It will then stay where it is for half a decade, or until the wine begins to become drinkable, at which point those who bought it must decide whether or not they can afford to drink it. For most wine lovers, of course, including this one, the idea of spending £200 on five glasses of red wine is hilarious (or, in more responsible moments, obscene).