I stopped by a wine shop in Switzerland last summer and got on their email list. I got an email from them about buying en primeur. I’ve heard nothing about this from the 10 or so email lists I use in the US. Anyone planning to buy en primeur and where from in the US? I’ve never done this before and am looking for suggestions. Is it worth it in the long run?
Monday 29 April:
Doisy-Daene and Extravagant de Doisy Daene
Lilian Ladouys
Sigalas Rabaud
Rayne Vigneau
Guiraud (BIO-ORGANIC)
Tuesday 30 April:
Pontet Canet * 97-98 James Suckling *
Léoville Las Cases * 97-98 James Suckling *
Clos du Marquis
Nénin
Valandraud * 97-98 James Suckling * and Valandraud Blanc
If you poke around the board a bit, you’ll see a lot of discussion about whether en primeur is worth it or not. For most recent vintages, the answer has been (to summarize almost to the point of inaccuracy): No, unless you’re looking for formats like .375s that tend to disappear later. However the 2023 vintage is allegedly going to be much less expensive than 2020-22, so…maybe? For some houses?
A lot of places will have offerings, so keep your ear to the ground. I used Buy Wine Futures 2023 and 2022 a bit, but there are plenty of other sources.
Check out this thread here for more: https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/bordeaux-2023
Also: Suckling tends to give pretty high marks for a lot of things. There are a few other critics who have yet to weigh in, but the thread above should give you some scaffolding to help make a decision.
I see opinions of 2023 are across the board. Some sarcastic some not. Nevertheless, I cannot form an opinion from the threads I’ve read. I’ve read where you can buy en primeur from Total Wine and Zachys but see nothing about this on their websites. I thought if I could get some good deals I may buy 6 bottles of some of the wines I am familiar. I certainly notice JS has some of the highest ratings. Although, I cannot say I disagree with any of his ratings of the wines I’ve tasted, but I’m easily impressed with good wine.
Hey Mark, looks like you’re referring to Bordeaux, which I don’t purchase en primeur for the reasons raised in this thread.
I do purchase Burgundy en primeur (from UK retailers), which isn’t a play on price as much as it is guaranteeing access to some wines that may be difficult to source otherwise (or difficult to source at what I consider fair price, so maybe price matter more than I admit).
Since you are ordering from a company in the UK how does shipping work? Do you pay for shipping directly from the winery or does it get shipped to the company you bought it from first then shipped to your home?
I live in the UK so it’s straight forward for me. But I’m sure some of the US folks will be by to explain how they handled that, as there are a few who do it.