What is En-Primeur?
En-Primeur is a method for purchasing wine early. Essentially, the wines are sold as ‘futures’ ie, before they have even been bottled.
How does the system work?
Every spring the Châteaux of Bordeaux produce barrel samples from the previous year's harvest. These are then tasted and assessed by the international wine trade (Z&B included) and wine journalists/critics. The Châteaux then release for sale a 'tranche' or proportion of their total production at an opening price (Other ‘tranches’ are sold too but are more expensive that the opening price).
This is sold in strict allocation to negociants in Bordeaux. The négociants then sell the wine on to merchants around the world.
Why buy En-Primeur?
There are a number of advantages to purchasing this way. These include securing stocks of wines which are otherwise difficult to obtain, as well as being the best opportunity to acquire wines from a great vintage, such as Bordeaux 2000 & 2003. In addition, you can secure wines at the release price, which usually works out to be substantially cheaper when compared to buying the wine when it becomes ‘physical’. Also you have the opportunity to purchase wine in less common formats - halves, magnums, double magnums and so forth.
Ensuring Provenance
For us this has to be one of the greatest advantages of purchasing En-Primeur. On arrival in the UK all our purchases move straight into our bonded, temperature and humidity controlled storage facility. The wines are stored securely, in optimal conditions, and as an added advantage are insured to full replacement value. Furthermore, En-Primeur purchasing gives buyers the assurance that they have owned a wine since before it was even bottled and they know precisely where the wine has been stored during its entire life.
Duty & V.A.T.
Storing your wines at a government registered bonded warehouse also means you can store the wines without payment of duty or VAT, which is not due until the wines are removed from our bonded facility (Please note, no UK duty/&VAT is payable if the wines are sold on under bond).
Why buy En-Primeur from Z&B Vintners Ltd?
- With Z&B, you can buy En-Primeur in complete confidence. I personally have been purchasing wine En-Primeur since the celebrated 2000 Vintage. Consequently, we have excellent relationships with leading Bordeaux negociants and enjoy good allocation from all the great Châteaux.
- Undoubtedly we offer some of the most honest advice that is available in the market today. Put simply, if we do not believe in the wine or the price is too high we will not sell/recommend it to you.
- We have no hidden charges as our prices include delivery from France, transit insurance and warehouse receiving charges. Duty and V.A.T. will be payable only if wines are later cleared from bond. Clients wishing to purchase for export, under bond transfer or under bond collection have no additional costs.
