2018 Bordeaux En Primeur
What is En Primeur?
En primeur or "wine futures", is a method of purchasing wines early while the wine (a vintage) is still in the barrel. This offers the customer the opportunity to invest before the wine is bottled.
Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage. A possible advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the wines may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released to the market. However, that is not guaranteed and some wines may lose value over time.
Wine experts, like Tom Stevenson, recommend buying en primeur for wines with very limited quantities and will most likely not be available when they are released.
The wines most commonly offered en primeur are from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Port, although other regions are adopting the practice.
2018 Bordeaux
James Suckling - "Bordeaux 2018, an exceptional vintage"
Janis Robinson - "Bordeaux 2018 will be remembered as an exceptional year, with no shortage of outstanding wines from this extraordinary vintage"