What is En Primeur?

Buying En Primeur Wine

The term En Primeur refers to the process of buying wine in cask/barrel before it is bottled at the Chateau/winery and released onto the global wine market. The wine is usually delivered 2-3 years after the vintage, and can only be purchased by the unmixed case. En Primeur wine is bought in barrels or cask held at the Chateau/winery. At the point of ordering En Primeur wine you advise whether you would like to have the wine delivered from UK bond (additional charges are required see our En Primeur Guide) or keep the wines in bond in your Private Reserve account where upon storage charge will apply. At this stage you can also choose how you wish your En Primeur wine to be bottled, ie. half bottles, magnums, imperials. The main advantage of buying wine En Primeur is that the initial opening prices can be considerably cheaper than after the wine is bottled and shipped by the producer. Where there is limited availability of a wine due to low yields or high demand then this may be the only time when you are able to purchase it direct from the Chateau/winery.

At Bon Coeur we have many years of experience purchasing En Primeur wine on behalf of our customers. You can choose wines to lay down and then drink, you can also look at wines to buy as potential investment wines, or a combination of both. If you would like some advice and are interested to buy En Primeur wine please contact James Goodhart. Allocations for wines are often very sought after, at Bon Coeur Fine Wines we reward our loyal customers first, however there is usually some room for the first time buyer. Please contact us to discuss your requirements at the earliest opportunity.

How does En Primeur Work?

The Bordeaux En Primeur tasting week is usually around the beginning of April, which the Bon Coeur team attend, meeting winemakers, negociants (wine brokers) and owners. Thereafter wine merchants and wine critics release their notes and scores on the wines and vintage, releases of En Primeur wines will then be released from April to July depending upon the vintage and the campaign. To follow each campaign please sign up to our En Primeur Review Updates which provide a valuable outline of the En Primeur market and prices as they are released.

When are En Primeur Wines Offered for Sale?

Typically En Primeur wines are offered a years following the harvest. Please see below for a guide for En Primeur wine releases:

Bordeaux – 6 to 7 months following the harvest (2023 vintage is offered in May 2024)

Burgundy – 15 to 16 months following the harvest (2022 vintage is offered in January 2024)

Rhone – 18 months following the harvest (2022 vintage is offered in February 2024)

Brunello di Montalcino - 60 months following the harvest (2019 vintage is offered in February 2024)

Port – 18 months following the harvest (last general declaration was for the 2017 vintage which was released in June 2019)

All our En Primeur wines are sold In Bond (excluding VAT and Duty, yet include shipping costs and insurance into our UK bonded warehouse). Should you require information on the costs from UK bond and further details of buying En Primeur wine please refer to our En Primeur Guide. Wine storage is held with, details on storage costs can be found in our Wine Storage section. 

When buying En Primeur wines it is most advisable to only buy from reputable merchants that you personally know or have been recommended by a long standing customer.  

Read here about our current En Primeur Campaigns, Vintage Reviews and Fine Wines.