Hey, Bordeauxphiles...

Thanks to the vagaries of email lists, this year I'm getting showered with daily updates about the en primeur campaign. I'd never known quite what an event it really was; and how anyone has time to pay attention to this AND the Giro d'Italia, I have no idea!

Bordeaux is a side of our cellar I'm slowly building up, mostly by gradual backfilling, but the combination of all the flutter in the wine press and the silence here makes me curious: do any of you buy (have you ever bought, do you still buy) Bordeaux en primeur? Does it make sense (anymore) to do so, if you're buying to drink and not as an investment? Does it depend on the wine? (I gather some labels, like Beychevelle, are more likely than others to "appreciate" -- i.e., become too expensive for me to buy after release -- thanks to demand in China?)

Again, I'm not especially asking for advice about WHAT to buy, if anything (my current candidates of the announcements I've seen so far include Cantemerle, Malescot St-Exupery, and Beychevelle, which will also give you an idea of the level I'm thinking of -- certainly no first growths here), but rather what you think -- this year especially, if you're paying attention or ITB -- of futures as a WAY to buy. (Apart from Ridge Monte Bello, I've never done it!)

Thanks in advance!

Bordeaux is largest part of my cellar. I started buying (lightly) with '89 and '90, first futures order was '94 Poyferre, bought a few things almost every vintage 1995-2005. Didn't buy any 06, 07, think a mixed case of '08 and a single 6 pk of Cantemerle in '09. Nothing since. Have contemplated a getting a couple mixed cases this year (unlike old days, most merchants are offering by bottle, used to be at least 6 pk if not solid case).

But not sure futures are really a wise move anymore. It's impossible to predict pricing - if I could be certain of Bordeaux or stock prices in future, I'd be a rich man. Especially hard with vagaries of Chinese demand, what will next vintage be like, etc. But to me in the mid-2000s when producers priced up first tranche prices aggressively it took a lot of the rationale for buying futures out.

For a drinker, these are considerations:
Provenance- one good argument for futures rather than backfilling is knowing provenance. But buying at release ensures same thing.

Security- Premier Cru, Ron Wallace/Rare Wine LLC, Barry Silver/Silver Spirits, Carolina Wine Co (though latter wasn't really Bdx futures)- you can lose your investment. If I buy it'll be from a retailer I do regular business with who has a business not BASED on futures (Zachys or Posner/Grapes)_

Availability- with the exception of a few (Le Pin, Ausone, some pointy Pomerols) these are big estates. You can pretty much find any recent vintage from any of them. The best single reason you might want to buy futures is if you want formats other than 750. Good way to guarantee halves, mags, big boys.

I should add one reason I've not bought much young Bdx lately is it is largest part of my cellar. Partly because it's not something that I think of as super versatile with food. So I tend to open at dinners centered around the wine.

[David M. Bueker]

I started back with futures in the 2014 campaign because I love half bottles. I will likely do the same in 2015, focusing on better value wines (e.g. Cantermerle, Lanessan, etc.) to drink whenever the hell I want to.

Lanessan for me too!!

Thanks, guys, and especially Dale. Strengthens my hesitations...

Dale has said it all. Here are just a couple of titbits of thought.

- I read somewhere that China is trying to get itself designated by the EU as a market economy (apologies if terminology incorrect). If they fail (and there is a lot of opposition in the EU), retaliatory duties against French wine would be an obvious step.
- One justification for buying en primeur is that it enables you to obtain rare wines which disappear quickly from the market. That applies to Burgundy but not to Bordeaux, except perhaps for some right bank trophies, such as Le Pin.

I myself have never bought en primeur.

[Jenise]

About the only reason to buy en primeur that I've sussed out is to purchase at the 1st and occasional 2nd growth level hoping to sell at twice the price before ever taking delivery. I know many who have done this successfully. Buying to stock your own less-ambitious cellar?--might as well wait.

It's pretty well decided, then... I'll wait till the 2015s arrive to buy them and spend this year's $ on other things. Who knows where I'll be in 2018, anyway?

do any of you buy (have you ever bought, do you still buy) Bordeaux en primeur?

I used to buy en premieur, stopped while kids tightened available cash, and started again a few years ago. I annually buy a case or two of of two wines I have been following since the '70's, one a 5th growth the other a Cru Bourgeous Medoc.

Purely for consumption. Not always seen them later on the retail market but when I have they've never been cheaper than I paid.

I bought futures of the 1982 and 1983 Bordeaux vintages in order to secure highly rated wines and to save a little money.

That was many (too many) years ago, but I bought the '82 Léoville-Las-Cases for $16US (currently around $200-500US) and the 1983 first growths for $70US (Lafite is currently $337-1300US). [Prices are from http://www.wine-searcher.com, and the highest prices are, naturally, from Hong Kong.]

I've never seen these wines for anywhere close to what I paid, even when they were initially released.

My "one that got away" was the 1982 Château Mouton-Rothschild. It was quoted at $40US, but when I went to order it, they had run out, and the new futures allocation was for $48. I passed since it was "too expensive". I later bought it in the mid-1990s for $300CDN for a tasting I was running (not my money!). Now it would cost $2000-3000CDN with our usurious Canadian import duties and taxes.

So after advising not to do it I made my first futures order in 5 years (with Grapes in White Plains).
Wanted Cantemerle mags, ended up order mixed case and a half of mostly cheapies (Lanessan at $15, etc). Most expensive were a few bottles of Beychevelle at $69.

I'm still wavering. Flickinger (best combination for me of proximity and reputation: I can basically see their warehouse from my living room) has a half-case minimum per wine. If I could mix and match some 3s and 4s it'd make the decision easier...

[David M. Bueker]

Took a glance at Galloni's notes on some of the 2015s. He is not nearly as hot on the vintage as everyone else.

I don't subscribe (though I probably should) -- but I found his survey article useful, and I've been seeing his notes in the offers I've been getting. Always more informative than another "BEST EVER FROM THIS PROPERTY?"

[David M. Bueker]

Happy to provide a reasonable level of info if you want it.

Thanks, David -- PM'd you.