Wine en-primeur

[matrignano]

I bought my first ever case of wine in bond today, with C&B since you ask.

Since I now have a spot at a bond warehouse, that naturally got me thinking to start investing en-primeur! :hehe

However Corney's has very limited choice.

Where can one find a "catalogue" of en-primeur wine for sale? Is there a specific time of year that these come out?
I know a few producers in Piedmont, can I approach them directly or does it all work via brokers?

Any tips appreciated!

[angusfaldo]

the Wine Society also sells this way - but only a few selected releases. No need for a catalogue as I doubt they would fill even a page.

I think you can see their offerings on the website though:

https://www.thewinesociety.com/en-primeur

[Audis5b9]

Berry Bros is one of the biggest for EnP wines, good place to start

[trevalvole]

My recollection is that Bordeaux en-primeur, which will be the biggest region for en-primeur, starts in the late spring following the harvest.

[85Carrera]

Best way to get en primeur wine through the Wine Society is through one of their cellar plans.

Also look at Farr Vintners, who I prefer to BBR, however nice the BBR shop is.

[curlyks2]

Wine Society, Farr Vintners and Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR) as already mentioned, Tanners Wine Merchants also. IIRC BBR will store for clients at their Basingstoke warehouse.

Justerini & Brooks do En Primeur campaigns throughout the year for different countries/regions, and offer a storage service (Cellarers/Octavian, 100ft under Wiltshire) if you don't want to take delivery when the wine arrives in the UK. Your portfolio can be viewed/managed online.

Fine + Rare do En Primeur campaigns - current one is Burgundy 2020 - and also offer a storage service (mostly at London City Bond), again with online portfolio management.

[Harpoon]

I was going to suggest Tanners but the poster above beat me to it. I've purchased port en-primeur through them previously.

[madbadger]

85Carrera said:

Best way to get en primeur wine through the Wine Society is through one of their cellar plans.

I don’t think that is right. The en primeur is completely separate to the cellar plans.

I’ve been in a few years of the WS Rhône en primeur and a couple of the Bordeaux. Seems a great way to buy wine. Normally a hundred odd options through the price range including mixed cases and magnums.

I had a Gigondas in a mixed 12 that cost £15-20 that Vivino said was worth £120 by the time I got it.

[eyebeebe]

Burgundy en primeur kicks off with BBR on Monday.

I have a cellar plan with them where I pay an amount a month and they email me offers for in bond purchases either as part of more co-ordinated en primeur seasons for Bordeaux and Burgundy or throughout the year for other releases. They also send me offers for ex-chateaux and other sources of older vintages. Emails range from once a week or so when it‘s quiet to multiple per day at the height of Bordeaux en primeur. I don‘t think there‘s any obligation to keep them in bond at their warehouse either.

ETA for Bordeaux I‘ve found them to be generally well priced, but for Italians I can normally find better pricing elsewhere.

[matrignano]

Awesome, thanks!
I'm on BBR's newsletter for the Burgundy release next week, and Corney and Barrow told me they're starting selling Burgundy in the next week or two.

Can't really find out when the Barolo release period is, is it October?

Also do I understand correctly that merchants tend to be exclusive to some producers, so if I want a specific producer I can only get it from the specific merchant that distributes for them in the UK?

What about buying primeur with merchants abroad?

[eyebeebe]

matrignano said:

Awesome, thanks!
I'm on BBR's newsletter for the Burgundy release next week, and Corney and Barrow told me they're starting selling Burgundy in the next week or two.

Can't really find out when the Barolo release period is, is it October?

Also do I understand correctly that merchants tend to be exclusive to some producers, so if I want a specific producer I can only get it from the specific merchant that distributes for them in the UK?

What about buying primeur with merchants abroad?

The difference with the cellar plan is that I‘ve had the Burgundy catalogue for a few weeks now, as well as some recommendations from it. They certainly don‘t have all of the producers, as they don‘t have the Meursault I wanted.

Italian wine I generally buy where I live in Switzerland, as it‘s cheaper, although BBR did have some great pricing on Guado al Tasso. The wine I order locally though I just store myself, as it‘s for drinking sooner rather than later. The BBR stuff is a mix of longer term drinking and hopefully investments.

Barolo is released in April. I got the catalogue from them about a week before general release.

Reason for the advance previews and the emails during Bordeaux en primeur is because the good stuff tends to be over-subscribed, so by the time you get the general release, it‘s gone. Not that you‘ll necessarily get the best stuff straightaway, if that‘s what you‘re looking for. It‘s a bit like Porsche in that the best customers get the GT products as a rule. So it‘s similar with first growths at first tranche pricing.

Edited by eyebeebe on Friday 7th January 19:02

[LooneyTunes]

eyebeebe said:

Reason for the advance previews and the emails during Bordeaux en primeur is because the good stuff tends to be over-subscribed, so by the time you get the general release, it‘s gone. Not that you‘ll necessarily get the best stuff straightaway, if that‘s what you‘re looking for. It‘s a bit like Porsche in that the best customers get the GT products as a rule. So it‘s similar with first growths at first tranche pricing.

Just to add some colour to the above post.

EnP wines, especially Bordeaux, are often released in tranches. First tranche is usually very limited in volume, but cheapest. When there’s a better read of the market the later tranches get released. You have the best chance of getting in on first tranche if you spend heavily with a particular merchant, and not necessarily just on en primeur.

For historical enP pricing, the wine society has their offers online: https://www.thewinesociety.com/en-primeur-overview... but worth being aware that TWS run their process in an odd way. Short period of time to make decisions regarding the top wines, followed by an offer document with a week or two to decide. But for each, requests go into an offer system to keep it fair amongst members. This is great as it increases your chances of getting some in demand wine but, if you don’t, you may then struggle to buy elsewhere.

Most others will follow a process where they take pre-orders (and fill these first) before filling later orders. In both cases allocation to good customers is normal. For the most sought after Bordeaux last year, if you didn’t have a relationship with a merchant you’d be lucky to secure even a single bottle. If you did, then you might be able to secure multiple cases.

If you’re doing it to invest, then do take into account the cost of storage and the commission payable when you sell. It’s not guaranteed to go up in value either. There are some that are fairly predictable but some that will decrease in value if priced aggressively at the start or if subsequent vintages outperform them.

The other thing to consider is bottle sizes. EnP is a great way to get bottle sizes that are hard to find later (I buy quite a bit in halves, magnums, and larger). That can be good for investment and/or for the sizes you like for your own consumption.

Lastly, worth being aware that not every producer will offer enP and not all merchants will offer all enPs. There are other ways to bag bargains but again they tend to rely on knowing what you want and building relationships.

ETA, if you’re desperate to get buying quickly, Farr Vintners list their unsold enP on their website. There are still 2020 Bordeaux there but you need to be a bit careful as some were subject to big rises vs previous years (and may or may not be able to maintain these levels), scaring off previous buyers, Others didn’t sell out (insufficient market demand) or are later tranches (higher prices). They are a very good merchant but are trade/serious volume focused (usual min order £500 and delivery terms reflect this).

2021 is going to be an interesting vintage due to weather presenting European growers with some challenges.

Edited by LooneyTunes on Saturday 8th January 09:17

[matrignano]

Thanks all for the advice.

I'm going to stick with Piedmont to begin with, as I know the area and have local contacts that can help me make vaguely decent decisions.
Got two cases of Roagna from Tanners last night, let's see how that goes!