Negociants dismayed by US, UK reaction to '06 en primeur

"I'm surprised by the negative comments made by merchants and journalists," said Laurent Ehrmann of negociant Barriere Freres. Ehrmann claims that the criticism of the 2006 en primeur campaign by Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson and others have not affected sales at all, but other negociants are less sanguine, lamenting the loss of sales from the two traditional overseas markets.

It strikes me that the hostile response from the American and British press -- while startling in its vehemence and striking in its near unanimity -- is nothing more than the predictable and inevitable reaction to years of over-aggressive, over-reaching pricing policies from Bordeaux negociants. Perhaps they should have anticipated some blowback?