En Primeur is a French term for wine sold on a 'futures' basis before being bottled.
The consumer pays the cost of the wine at the time of their order. The wine is shipped up to two years later when the bottled wines are released. At this point it can either be delivered into a special 'in bond' storage account (a customs controlled warehouse where wines are stored without taxes having been paid on them), or directly to the customer, in which case a second 'release payment' to cover duty, VAT and handling costs are paid at the time of shipping.
At Majestic, we list En Primeur wines in unsplit cases of 6 or 12 bottles. Each product indicates an estimated delivery date (subject to the vagaries of international shipping and customs!), and also an estimated 'release payment' to give you an idea of what you'll need to pay if you choose not to receive the wine 'in bond'. This is only an estimate because we can't be certain of duty, VAT and shipping rates two years in advance. However, our estimates have never been wrong in over 10 years, so should be a good guide!
En Primeur is the ideal way to buy wines you intend to cellar for an extended period. A case of wine also makes an imaginitive gift, especially as a christening gift. Since you won't have any 'physical' wine to give immediately, we can supply a 'certificate of ownership' for gift recipients on request - contact us at enprimeur@majestic.co.uk for more details.
Bordeaux
Every spring following the vintage, Bordeaux Cru Classé properties show cask samples of their wines and then release a certain 'tranche' of their total production at a special opening price. Originally these wines were bought up by the Bordeaux brokers or négociants, and only sold on to other markets once the wines were in bottle and ready to drink.
As demand for classified growths has risen so dramatically over recent years, négociants now offer the wines direct for export. Buying 'En Primeur' is probably the only way to secure a sought after wine at a reasonable price.
Burgundy
Due to the success and demand for the 2005 vintage, Majestic offered Burgundies en primeur for the first time. Thanks to our buying power and established trading relationships we have secured good allocations of top premier and grand crus from Bouchard Père & Fils and Louis Latour on an ongoing basis.
Vintage Port
Vintage Port is the most sought-after and most expensive style of Port and yet it accounts for only one per cent of the total Port production. It is the shipper's flagship wine and will only be "declared" if the quality of a single vintage is deemed to be of sufficiently high quality. Majestic offers Vintage Ports en primeur whenever a vintage is declared; the last time this happened was the 2003 vintage, which has now shipped. Because it has such a long life, vintage Port is the perfect christening gift.
More information about bonded storage
Email enprimeur@majestic.co.uk