Bordeaux – a treasured destination for wine lovers the world over and a renowned benchmark of the fine wine market. But are Bordeaux En Primeur wines still considered a good investment?
Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur or a budding wine investor, this article will help you decide whether investing in Bordeaux En Primeur wines is a worthy addition to your portfolio.
How buying ‘En Primeur’ wine works
En Primeur, also called ‘wine futures’, is a method of purchasing newly produced wine early on before it’s even been bottled and released onto the market. En Primeur wines are usually shipped to the buyer between 18 months and three years after being bottled.
En Primeur wines are bought ‘In Bond’ (i.e., exclusive of Duty and VAT). They are often cheaper than the future price of those wines when they become available to the open market (10%-30% cheaper, on average) because they’re being bought a good two years before the wine has been bottled, meaning they have only been reviewed and scored by a few critics.
The attraction of Bordeaux En Primeur
Buying En Primeur wine is a custom that dates back hundreds of years exclusively to the world-renowned wine region of Bordeaux, France. Indeed, it is a concept that is still highly regarded today.
It’s no secret that the Bordeaux region produces some of the world’s most prized wines. In fact, Bordeaux has been a staple in the cellars of seasoned wine collectors for centuries.
Sought-after due to their ageing potential – among other factors – buying Bordeaux En Primeur can often be the best way to secure particularly good vintages with limited availability and the strong potential to appreciate over time.
Other benefits of investing in Bordeaux En Primeur wines include:
- You may be able to request a specific format for the wine, be it halves, magnums, or larger bottles.
- When you buy En Primeur wine, you’re guaranteed provenance, given that you’re buying directly from the winery.
- Some Bordeaux wines are simply impossible to obtain if one does not purchase them at such an early stage.
What are the risks involved with buying Bordeaux wine En Primeur?
As with any endeavour to obtain assets, investing in Bordeaux wines En Primeur is not without its risks.
First and foremost, there is no guarantee that any wines you buy En Primeur – be it the latest Bordeaux vintage or otherwise – will appreciate over time. There is, however, always the potential for your En Primeur-purchased wine to lose value over time.
What’s more, some critics of the En Primeur system say that selling wines in their youth doesn’t accommodate a proper review and rating of the vintage in question.
Further, it has been suggested that the Bordeaux negociant system is a ‘delicate’ one, as it can tend to reward buyers with a well-established purchase history, which can make the process difficult for new buyers.
Is Bordeaux En Primeur still a worthy investment?
To answer that question, let’s take a look at the investment potential of the Bordeaux 2020 vintage.
According to the Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 Report, the 2020 vintage was of excellent quality and yielded many outstanding wines. Here are some additional highlights from that report:
- Production is down slightly in comparison to the 10-year average. This is largely due to hot weather affecting the grapes.
- Despite disruptive factors such as the coronavirus pandemic, it is a well-priced vintage overall, though less consistent than the previous vintage.
So, is Bordeaux En Primeur still a worthy investment? Here’s what Alex Westgarth, CEO of WineCap, thinks:
‘When it comes to buying Bordeaux wine En Primeur, it all depends on the vintage. Anyone considering it should be aware of the balance between quality and price in a vintage.’
In addition to those wise words, it’s also important to keep in mind that it’s still quite early to be drawing such conclusions about the Bordeaux 2020 vintage.
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