14 Mar 2016

The week

The week "en primeur"

 
 

From 4 to 8 April 2016 a week "en primeur" (fr.) will take place in Gironde.

Bordeaux winemakers invite experts from all over the world for enjoy, appreciate and make an opinion about their wines, which just begun to form - the vintage 2015. The excitement and buzz last till producers call the sales prices and wines go on sale in June.
 
The sale en primeur means the purchase of wine will be available a year or 18 months or even 2 years. This practice, traditional for Bordeaux in the eighteenth century, allows producers to benefit the cash immediately, as well as to protect themselves against unforeseen risks. The buyer can get a bottle at a lower price (15 to 25% below the market price). Ordering he pays half of the cost and undertakes to pay the balance at the time of delivery of wine. This system was invented and developed in the 1980s. Formerly buying en primeur was possible only for merchants, but now has been made available and individuals. Even if for buy grand cru you must contact the negociant from Bordeaux place,  not directly to the chateau. Week en primeur always causes great excitement and leads to speculation.

En primeur you buy the wine not ready  tasting, and only following on the experts' conclusions. And that not guarant financial benefit, because  always changing prices. Going to the market, wine price can fall, especially if the harvest is high. But the possible advantage of futures is that it provide an opportunity to buy few bottles of some famous crus which would be inaccessible later, because the stars are not coast much. 

 As for the harvest 2015, experts call it promising because the dry and hot summer. Libournais (Saint-Emilion, Pomerol ...) and Medoc (Pauillac) promises some sweetness. Experts fear that the wine will be too warm.

This sale en-primeur has nothing to do with vins primeurs - the young wines, going on sale in October or November, and fitting within a year of harvest. This wine must be drunk immediately and it need to don't think. In Gironde, just the opposite. This wine needs to be stored,  it only starts to form after the famous week en-primeur, and that consumers will keep in the cellar before opening for several years. Their price justifies the thought about it ... Only one thing in common: both those, and other wines to their producers make a profit at the same time.

http://www.hachette-vins.com/guide-vins/actualite-vin/288/la-vente-des-bordeaux-2015-en-primeur-du-4-au-8-avril