Bordeaux 2020: Buying En Primeur
As in all previous years, I conclude here with some words on the wisdom of buying en primeur. The intention is really to guide and protect newcomers to the system.
In short, en primeur is a method for purchasing wine early, in which the latest vintage is offered for sale before the wines have even been bottled. You pay for the wine often more than a year in advance of receiving it, in the case of Bordeaux usually about two years.
The trick with buying en primeur is to engage with one or several merchants, establish the prices at which you will buy (and, for the expensive wines, the prices at which you won’t). You won’t be able to taste the wines for yourself first, so you will be reliant on opinions such as those I express in this report.
En Primeur: Pros and Cons
The advantages of buying en primeur are that it secures stock of sometimes hard-to-find wines (not such a big issue with Bordeaux as it is in other regions, but this does apply to a handful of wines) and that it secures provenance – you know exactly where the wine has been. You can also choose the bottling format, be it magnums, bottles or half bottles.
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