Author: Dirk Chan
It’s that time of the year again – Bordeaux Futures. How does Futures work you ask? – well at its most basic level, you’re purchasing unfinished wine – you pay for it in full now, and in two years time (2025), they arrive and you have some great Bordeaux to cellar for some time before enjoying the fruits of your patience. The wines when released in-bottle will be 10-15% higher so you get a price break. Nowadays, you buy futures so you can get your hands on a bottle or two of something great and rare. Bordeaux being one of the great wines in the world – at the top end, demand far out strips availability and Futures may be the only way of ensuring you get your hands on some of the more illustrious houses.
2022 is already being hailed as perhaps the greatest vintage of the new century. It is being mentioned in the same breath as 1947, 1982 and 1990 or a cross between 2009 and 2010. It is being called an “Investor’s vintage”, where they think in the years to come, this vintage will become highly sought after by all and appreciate in value significantly. It was a hot vintage throughout, but with better know-how as to how to handle that (since the very hot 2003), the winemakers have produce something unique and rare, a uniformly great vintage for all the red grapes – thus no one region dominated.
I tasted a barrel sample from our friend Marc Vigneron (who sells most of the right bank Bordeaux to us) of Ch. Bouscaut in Pessac, and I was amazed at the great nose, concentrated fruit but above all a fabulously fresh, long and cashmere finish – if this was indicative of how even a moderate house can produce something this good…wow! He said there were record levels of people attending the En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux, so world wide interest is high.
Already we’ve seen from the early releases, a 15-30% increase in price over the 2021’s and even over the 2018 pricing, so at the high end, things will not be cheap and already with the Leoville Barton we see it is in high demand selling out very quickly irregardless of price. Do grab what you can afford, the Petit Chateaux will show well young, and the Grand Cru’s will deliver a unique experience in 20 years.
For those seeking the absolute top-tier, please drop us an email so we can help. It gets harder and harder every year to get the highest scoring most prestigious wines, some wines we get one 3pack. Of course, there isn’t enough to go around as every retailer wants some of the superstars leading to some frenzied buying and quick sellouts and staying up all night waiting for new releases/offers for a whole month.
As usual, items offered will be sold on a first-come first served basis and in some cases maximums applied. In many instances we won’t be able to go back for more of something once it sells out and if we do, price will be second tranche (release) higher pricing.
Please use the link below to subscribe to receive Futures offerings. If you’ve purchased Futures before, you are automatically enrolled. Subscribers can expect two offerings per week over 3 or 4 weeks beginning next week, the campaign will end early to mid June.
As usual, we’ll be offering some sweet Sauternes, whites, but this time around mostly focused on reds from Petit Chateaux to high end Grand Cru’s at various price points so there will be wines for everybody. Bottom line, if you’ve been hesitant to get into the Bordeaux Futures game, jump in now for this is a historically significant vintage to have in your cellars.
Enroll to receive 2022 Bordeaux Futures offerings..