frequently asked questions
- What is En Primeur?
- What are the advantages for me in purchasing in this fashion?
- How does it work?
- How is the wine packaged?
- How do I purchase?
What is En Primeur?
Also known as Wine Futures, Bordeaux Futures, or, as we like to refer to it, a liquid investment.
En primeur refers to the process of buying wine before it is bottled and released onto the market - usually the wine is delivered 2 years later.
Originally only red Bordeaux was sold in this way, but increasingly wine from Burgundy, California, Rhône, Italy, Vintage Port, and even New Zealand, is being offered en primeur, however, Glengarry is so renowned for our Bordeaux selections that we prefer to just concentrate on these.
What are the advantages for me in purchasing in this fashion?
There are two significant advantages to purchasing wine en primeur. The first is availability. Some en primeur wine is produced in very limited quantities (a château can produce as little as 200 cases a year for world-wide allocation) and are only available en primeur, i.e. they will never reach the open market. Even for en primeur wine that does eventually make it to retail shelves, the quantities available are extremely limited rendering it likely that you will miss out if you do not acquire the wine en primeur.
The second significant advantage is price. The cost savings with en primeur obviously vary with the actual wine concerned from the various châteaux, and a lot depends on the point ratings received from Wine Spectator, Robert Parker and Decanter, but you can generally expect to pay 40 - 50% less than what the wine would fetch upon its final release on the open market.
It must always be remembered that en primeur wine is a rare collectable and once you acquire the wine you have the luxury of retaining it until you are ready to indulge yourself or monitoring the fine wine market and trading your investment to take advantage of price increases to bank a profit or to fund the purchase of new vintages.
How does it work?
The first part of the process is that the châteaux make the barrel samples of wine available for evaluation and review by wine experts and negoçiants; only after this is the wine then offered to us for purchase. Glengarry has longstanding relationships with the best negoçiants in France, relationships that guarantee us the offer and supply of wine that is simply not made available to other merchants. Note, if you have a few favourites that you'd like us to keep an eye out for then please don't hesitate to contact us and we'll see what we can do.
When offers are made to us we notify you immediately by email (or whatever means of communication you prefer) and requests are processed until the wines are fully allocated (during the height of this period offers can be made daily and can be fully allocated within hours). Where demand remains unsatisfied, we go back to the negoçiants and attempt to secure more stock, but there are no guarantees that more wine will be made available.
Note, whereas some merchants only offer en primeur wine by the unmixed case (12 bottles, 24 half-bottles, 6 magnums), Glengarry can offer the wine to you by the bottle, which makes purchasing wine en primeur a more accessible proposition for many customers.
Once you have requested the wine you want to acquire en primeur you will need to pay for it but don't worry you don't have to make full payment up front, rather payments are made in two installments. The schedule for payments and the time line for the arrival of stock is as follows:
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First Payment |
How is the wine packaged?
We order from France in case lots. These are transported to us in attractive wooden boxes from the château and shipped by our well-established distribution lines in secure, temperature controlled containers (an exclusive Glengarry service). Standard wooden box quantities are as follows:
| Bottle Size | Packaging | ||
| Half-Bottles (375 ml) | Wooden case of 24 Half-Bottles | ||
| Half-Bottles (375 ml) | Wooden case of 12 Half-Bottles | ||
| Regular Bottles (750 ml) | Wooden case of 6 Regular Bottles | ||
| Regular Bottles (750 ml) | Wooden case of 12 Regular Bottles | ||
| Magnums (1.5 l) | Wooden case of 6 Magnums | ||
| Magnums (1.5 l) | Wooden case of 3 Magnums | ||
| Double Magnums (3 l) | Wooden case of 1 Double Magnum | ||
| Jeroboams (5 l) | Wooden case of 1 Jeroboam | ||
| Impériales (6 l) | Wooden case of 1 Impériale |
If you request fewer bottle quantities than the package case lots above we will pack your wine into attractive Glengarry cartons ready for pick up or delivery.
Note, we will attempt to package your wine into the bottle size and case configurations you request but we are unable to confirm until confirmation is received from the supplier and/or the wine arrives in New Zealand.
How do I purchase?
You can acquire en primeur wine online on this web site. Once logged in you can add the wine you are interested in to your wish list (if it is as yet unavailable) and then request that the wine be allocated to you (once available). Feel free to contact us if you require any assistance with this process.