How To Buy Wine Futures
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Before a highly coveted wine hits the shelves, consumers and the trade may have an opportunity to lock down an allocation by paying for it in advance. These are called \"futures,\" and in the case of rare, hard-to-find wines, they may be your best opportunity to secure them. The futures price may prove to be a bargain, as well, if demand for the wine sends prices soaring.
However, as with any investment, there is always the risk that prices may drop: Predicting the quality and demand of any given vintage is a gamble, and economic factors can strongly influence prices, no matter how good the wine.
It was once possible to make a killing, as anyone who bought 1982 Château Latour futures could attest: It presold for about $40 a bottle in 1983; now it sells for about $1,500 a bottle. More realistically, one can hope for substantial savings, as was the case with futures for the 2000 vintage, some of which are now valued at double or triple their release prices. Recently, however, futures have been a less-lucrative endeavor, and the secondary market has proven competitive with initial offers.
Bordeaux's 2010 vintage debuted to stellar reviews and all-time high futures prices; while the quality of the wines has held up, their prices have not, and most blue-chip 2010 Bordeauxs are now available for well below their release prices.
What's in it for the wineries The futures system allows wine estates to pay off debts incurred over the course of the vintage sooner rather than later, when the wines have been barrel-aged, bottled and are ready for release. But not all agree that the system is necessarily beneficial to the wineries, either. Bordeaux first-growth Château Latour's owners shocked many when they announced in 2012 that Latour would no longer participate in the futures market, electing not to sell any of its wine until it was ready to be released.
Wine sold as futures, called en primeur in Bordeaux, reaches the world through a series of phases. For Bordeaux, it all begins in late March or early April, when châteaus host tastings for the trade to evaluate the potential quality of the vintage harvested during the previous autumn; these wines have just gone into barrel and are still about two years from reaching the market in bottles.
Over the course of the spring, châteaus release their trade prices for the vintage based on the initial response to the wines and global economic conditions. There is no fixed schedule; while the top growths sometimes pave the way for everyone else, in other cases they may hold off until May while smaller estates test the waters. The wines first go through courtiers, or brokers, who take a small percentage; then the right to sell the futures is passed on to the négociants, or shippers, who set a new price for the wine, referred to as the ex-négoce price. With very few exceptions, no one deals directly with Bordeaux's châteaus; they deal with the négociants.
In the United States, domestic wineries may presell directly to consumers, typically in the form of allocations distributed among mailing-list members shortly before the bottled wines are released. For mailing-list members of cult-status wineries like Screaming Eagle and Sine Qua Non, it can be relatively simple to resell these allocated wines at a big profit on the secondary market, a practice known as \"flipping.\" (Winemakers have mixed opinions on the phenomenon.)
If you plan to buy Bordeaux futures, work only with reputable merchants who have a history of delivering the wines their customers order. Shop around for the best prices, but don't be tempted by a price that seems too good to be true.
Every spring, the Sotheby's Wine team travels to Bordeaux to taste the most recent Futures. This helpful guide presents all the facts to help you start your wine collection or purchase this year's crop.
Price, provenance and access are the biggest benefits in buying Futures and this attracts all wine enthusiasts, from private collectors who intend to drink their wines to collectors who invest in wine, as well as wine funds.
Wine Tasted: After the wine has been in barrel for about 3 or 4 months, an army of wine professionals arrive from around the world to taste the new vintage. Sotheby's Serena Sutcliffe and Jamie Ritchie are among them, and they taste hundreds of wines, noting their opinions and scores on the young wines.
If you believe that more people from more countries and from a wider age group will want to buy great wines, then the price of fine wine will have to rise, as production of top class \"collectible\" wine is limited to only one new vintage every year, and most wineries are focused on increasing quality, thereby potentially reducing quantity.
Traditionally, the en primeur system allowed producers to free up valuable storage space and finance the harvest before it was released. It also gave wine drinkers a chance to buy at attractive prices.
Vinovest allows investors to purchase individual bottles of fine wine in its marketplace. Those bottles are stored and insured by Vinovest. When an investor is ready to sell, the company will find a buyer and arrange for the sale. You can read our review of Vinvovest for more details on how its platform allows you to easily invest in wine futures.
This global wine retailer is one of the best places to buy wine futures online. Millesima provides a simple interface that allows you to search for wine futures by region. You can drill down on specific wine futures and see their delivery date, scores from Robert Parker and James Suckling, and look at the complete inventory of the wine producer.
The online wine superstore Wine.com offers wine futures for sale. Wine.com is the largest wine retailer on the internet. You can purchase wine futures from many of the top Chateaus in Bordeaux here. They typically ship three years after the vintage year. The number of futures you need to purchase varies based on the Chateau. In some cases, you can purchase a single wine future, while others require a purchase of at least 12.
This is another fine option for purchasing wine futures online. Wally's is one of the most important west coast wine retailers. They have a long history of selling wine futures and can be considered a reliable source on the web. Their wine futures are organized by the vintage year and can be filtered and sorted based on price, vintage, producer, and varietal.
Each of the red and white wines listed here are available for purchase now as \"futures,\" on a pre-sale basis and many won't arrive for one to two years. By ordering today, you can secure a supply of often hard-to-find wines, at a price that is generally much lower than when the vintage is finally bottled, aged and released on the market (though there is no guarantee).
Bordeaux wines are tasted and reviewed pre-release. Where possible, we've listed the barrel sample ratings from critics. They give a score range and we've cited the highest of this range, along with other details including their tasting notes.
Purchases will be charged a deposit equivalent to the wine, shipping & handling and the applicable taxes. Prices do not include any U.S. import tariffs that may be in effect and due upon arrival. Order cancellation will be subject to a fee equal to 20% of the wine.
Purchasing wine futures is something many investors are interested in, and for good reason. You can buy popular wines in advance (long before they are bottled and reach the market) and often at the lowest possible price. Futures are the bedrock of many successful wine investment portfolios.
The process is even more seamless when you invest in wines from the right retailer. The most experienced sellers will offer you specific advice on how to expand your wine collection, and you can use this advice to build a diverse portfolio of the highest-quality wines in the world.
Purchasing Bordeaux futures is often the best way to secure the wines you want before they are bottled and released officially to the market. Payment is made up front (100%) and the wines are delivered to you following release two years later.
As one of the leading Bordeaux retailers in the U.S., our buyers visit the region frequently during the year. We have forged excellent relationships with producers and negociants alike, which allows us to secure allocations reliably and offer them to our customers with confidence. In addition, our entire team of Wine Specialists travels to Bordeaux each year for en primeur where we taste both new and older vintages, kick the dirt, and spend time with chateau owners and winemakers.
We are fully prepared to give thoughtful and educated advice on Bordeaux futures (or any Bordeaux vintage) and a personal view on the hundreds of wines we taste every year. You will not find such a depth of knowledge and experience anywhere else in the country! To receive Bordeaux Futures offers, please sign up for our newsletter or email us at marketing@jjbuckley.com.
The terms Wine Futures and En Primeur refer to buying wine after it is made, but before it is bottled. Six months or so after vintage, when the wines are still in tank or barrel, tasting samples are made available to wholesale buyers and wine journalists. The buyers place orders based on their assessment of the wines, and sell their 'future' stock on to their customers (although the wine itself is not bottled and shipped for another year or two). The journalists rate the wines and publish their notes, in either print or online media. The race to publish these ratings (particularly for Bordeaux futures / en primeur) has become increasingly competitive since the advent of celebrity wine critics, online wine media and wine investment. In the case of Bordeaux En Primeur, the wines are released in several stages or tranches, in which prices are adjusted up or down according to the success of the previous tranche. The first tranche typically attracts the most attention.
Buying wine en primeur (literally 'in y