What is En Primeur?

En Primeur is a kind of wine futures, where wines are offered for sale before they have been bottled. The wine producers (chateaux) show cask samples of the young wine after just a few months development in barrel, and then prices are set and an offer made. Originally this was a way for wine brokers or negociants to buy the young wines direct from the Chateaux, which they would only bottle and sell on when the wine was ready to drink. Nowadays, such is the demand for them, that the wines are offered for sale to the customer in this state.

The customer pays the price for the wines, free of duty, delivery and VAT. Once the wine is ready to be shipped, which can be as much as two years later, the customer either ships it (often duty free) to a storage account of their choice (where the wine can continue to age or be sold on to another buyer at a later date) or has it delivered duty paid to them direct.

Any wine region could potentially offer wines for sale in this way, but in practice it is usually only classed growth Bordeaux, Burgundy, some Rhone wines and Port which are the subject of En Primeur campaigns.

Why buy En Primeur?

Buying 'En Primeur' is probably the only way to secure a sought after wine at a reasonable price. Demand for the best wines from these regions has grown hugely in the last few years, and will often easily outstrip supply. For this reason, some wines will not be available commercially later in their lives, and if they are, will command much higher prices. Also, when ordering en primeur, the customer can specify what size of bottle they require, such as half bottles and magnums.

Buying wine En Primeur also gives the customer the security of knowing the wine's provenance from the very start of its life. In highly sought after wines, this is very useful knowledge.