En Primeur

Investing in 'wine futures' - what are the benefits and what should you look out for?

If you're interested in investing in the 2024 vintage, click below and leave your details.

 

 

What is En Primeur?

When you buy wine ‘En Primeur’ you are acquiring an allocation of wine still in barrel in the producer's cellar. This is often referred to as a 'wine future'.

Buying wine at first release in this way should be at the lowest price possible and guarantees supply of rare wine.

Wine bought this way remains maturing in barrel until bottled at least two years after first release. The bottled wine is then shipped to your bonded storage account and remains in this tax-free environment until removed from bond.

The secondary market in En Primeur wine is very active with rising global demand for rare investment wines.

 

 

How does investing in En Primeur work?

 

The wine producers generally release their new vintage en primeur allocations to the market after the wines are tasted and scored by the influential critics.

Dependent on the quality scores and our own analysis we identlfy en primeur wine investments that offer the best potential for growth.

Your en primeur ownership is all safely recorded until the wines are bottled and shipped to your account.

 

 

 

What are the benefits of investing in En Primeur wine?

Purchase at release

Buying investment-grade wines at their first entry into the market should be priced for future growth.

Securing rare wines

Buying wine 'En Primeur' guarantees future supply of sought after, rare investment wines.

Blue-chip provenance

En Primeur wines are bottled and shipped from the producer's cellar to your storage, providing the best provenance.

Optimise returns

Acquiring fine wine at the earliest stage provides the time to achieve the best results. 

 

 

En Primeur - key events

'En Primeur' releases happen at different times in the year depending on the region. Burgundy's new vintage release generally takes place in Q1 and Bordeaux's larger campaign in Q2.

The Bordeaux En Primeur campaign is one of the wine trade's annual highlights with hundreds of producers involved and the world's leading critics. The key events are:

  • Fine wine critics, journalists and merchants are hosted at key chateaux for the tastings in April
  • The critics publish their quality scores during April and May 
  • The chateaux agree their market opening prices with their courtiers and the negociants
  • The en primeur allocations are released at the opening price via the negociants onto the secondary market normally from early May and the campaign runs into June.
  • The campaign usually closes in June and the en primeur wine allocations are then traded on the secondary market, whilst the wine continues to age in barrel. 
  • The wine is bottled after two to three years and quality scored again by the critics. This event can trigger further price movement. The wine is then shipped to owner storage in bond.
  • The 'physical' wines continue to age in-bottle and are traded in the secondary market.

 

 

Join our Waiting List

What do you need to consider?

Financial security

En Primeur investments must be made via an agent or merchant with an excellent reputation. The risk is that should your chosen investment partner fail, you may not receive your wine and lose money.

Performance potential

Investment in any type of 'future' presents the risk of the investment not performing to forecasts. Like all investments, it is important to remember that the value of an En Primeur wine can go down as well as up.

Longer investment term

En Primeur wine matures in barrel for 2 - 3 years before bottling and transfer to storage. Wine allocations are traded but generally a longer investment period should be considered. 

Why invest in En Primeur with Vin-X?

Independent guidance

As an independent, trusted specialist, we will guide you to consider only those En Primeur investment wines that offer good growth potential.

Speak to an Expert

Market insight

You can rely on our expert knowledge to analyse the new vintage wines and identify the best opportunities. Register for our Newsletter to stay up to date during the campaign.

Learn more

Expert management

We take care of the whole process when you invest in En Primeur wine. We'll manage your ownership records, logistics, insurance and storage.

Speak to an Expert