Commonly referred to as ‘wine futures’, en primeur essentially
refers to the process of buying wine whilst still in barrel, with
bottling and physical delivery 2-3 years after the vintage release.
Wines can be purchased in different size formats, but Cult Wines
only supply en primeur in 75cl bottles (either 3s, 6s or 12s) in
original wood casing.
Prices for en primeur are quoted ex-cellars (LCB, Tilbury), with any
delivery and handling charges included.
Key Benefits of En Primeur
Lowest price
– EP typically offers the chance for collectors to get involved at
the lowest market offer price.
Youngest age
– At EP release, the
wines are at their youngest age, with the maximum period for
maturity and potential growth in value.
Security of
provenance –
when purchasing wines EP, collectors have the added benefit of
having wines delivered via the most direct route from the Château,
ensuring absolute provenance.
Secondary market
buying trend
– Traditionally, the secondary market buying trend is for physical
stock. This allows collectors to take advantage of EP gains, with
stocks that are easily liquidated after physical delivery.
Why invest in En Primeur?
In recent years En Primeur is increasingly being bought for
investment purposes. In general, one can secure better prices for En
Primeur wines as they are virtually always cheaper than the price of
the wine when it is bottled. With the clamour for good vintages,
prices of En Primeur wines can increase rapidly, sometimes even
double within a matter of weeks. It is a way to secure wines that
are difficult to obtain and highly sought after once physical.
Buying En Primeur does not necessarily mean that prices will
increase but if you get involved with the right wines it offers
great value and should be considered as part of a diverse wine
portfolio.
The profit margins can be high therefore when purchasing En Primeur
there will be several opportunties even before the wine is bottled
to take adavantages of price increases and take profit.
Below is a table comparing the growth in value of a basket of
first growths* from the last three ‘exceptional vintages’.
*One case of each of the five first growth wines: Latour, Lafite,
Mouton, Margaux, Haut Brion.
Performance of
2009 En Primeur (to date)
How Does It Work?
Process starts
with the En Primeur
tastings at the start of Spring quite sometime before wines
are ready to drink.
These barrel
tastings are assessed and rated by the wine trade and experts.
One can purchase
En Primeur selections before they are bottled and released to
the market while they are still in Bordeaux. All wines are
purchased “In Bond” which means the purchase prices are
exclusive of Duty and VAT
The Chateaux
offer some of their production at a lower price than the final
bottled product. This wine is released in a series of tranches,
typically at higher prices in line with market demand.
Delivery of
these wines in the UK is typically expected around 24 months
after release.
The wine will
arrive in our UK bonded warehouse where it will be stored under
bond and on the clients behalf.
All En Primeur purchases are Ex-Vat and Ex-Duty. If you choose
to have the wines delivered (anywhere in the EU) these taxes
become payable.
Cult Wines are
responsible for insuring En Primeur purchased through Cult Wines
at the original invoice value until delivery of stock has been
completed.
If you are interested
in receiving more information about investing in En Primeur or
learning more about the process, please fill in our Bordeaux En
Primeur contact form below.
Alternatively, if you would like to talk to one of our advisors you
can contact us on 0208 439 1522.
Your browser is blocking this form. Please email your contact details and any requests to enprimeur@wineinvestment.org to register your interest. Thank You.
The scrolling trades below are via a live data feed
from the
London International Vintners Exchange
