En primeur

En primeur or "wine futures", is a method of purchasing wines early while the wine (a vintage) is still in the barrel. This offers the customer the opportunity to invest before the wine is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage. A possible advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the wines may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released to the market. However, that is not guaranteed and some wines may lose value over time. Wine experts, like Tom Stevenson, recommend buying en primeur for wines with very limited quantities and will most likely not be available when they are released. The wines most commonly offered en primeur are from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Port, although other regions are adopting the practice.

Process

In the spring after a year long harvest, merchants and trade organizations will taste barrel samples of wine that are often only 6–8 months old. In the case of Bordeaux, where the final wine is often a blend of several grape varieties, the winemaker will try to craft an approximate blend to sample. The composition of the final wine may differ from the sample depending on how each barrel matures during the aging process. Based on the initial sample, the wines will be giving a preliminary "score" or wine rating based on the expected quality of the wine once it is bottled, released and has had time to mature.