Wine Spectator: Bordeaux’s Futures Campaign Kicks Off

The premise of Bordeaux en primeurs is fairly simple: The top wineries of the region sell futures the spring after harvest, while the wines are still aging in barrels. They get cash up front to help them cover production costs. The négociants—as well as the retailers, restaurants, and consumers they sell the futures to—get first dibs on the wine, theoretically at a lower price than when it’s bottled and released two years later.

There’s five numbers that shatter this concept however—2022, 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017. According to Liv-Ex, a London-based marketplace that tracks collectible wines, the current prices of the top 500 Bordeaux estates from those five vintages are all below their futures prices. Only the 2019 vintage has proven a worthwhile investment for Bordeaux consumers.

For several years now, there has been growing evidence the top names in Bordeaux see futures less as a sales campaign and more as a marketing opportunity that allows them to set their price benchmarks. Prices have continued to climb, despite the ups and downs of the global economy. At the same time, château owners are reducing the amount of wine they release as futures. Once they were desperate for cash flow—now they have enough money to age the wine and sell most of it years later, when demand is higher. Château Latour left the futures process entirely in 2012.

Despite the rising prices and diminishing returns, the négociants have continued to buy futures each year. Their motivation has been to hold on to their allotments from the top wineries. But the négociants may not be able to play that game any longer. Their inventory is at record levels. The pandemic and its aftermath have hurt their bottom lines.

There’s word that this year’s campaign will be efficient and prices will come down. Will they drop enough to entice American consumers who no longer need to buy Bordeaux, when there are hundreds of outstanding luxury wines available from regions like Burgundy, Barolo, the Rhône, and California? That’s the big question. Wine Spectator is tracking Bordeaux futures prices as they’re released.

Tagged : Bordeaux, Wine Spectator

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