En Primeur
Definition - What does En Primeur mean?
En primeur is a way to buy wine directly from the winery before it has been sold to the general public. En Primeur (French translation future) orders must be purchased years before scheduled delivery to secure valuable stock and is only applicable to whole cases that only contain the same specific bottle (no mixing). Many rare wines or wines that aren’t mass produced are ordered this way with the vintage year controlling the closing date for orders.
WineFrog explains En Primeur
En Primeur is a way to purchase rare wines by reservation that are shipped after they are matured in their winery's temperature controlled environment. It also offers a way to buy the wine at a controlled price before it is released to market where the price could increase. The most notable annual offers come from the Bordeaux region where wine quantity is limited and in high demand, but they are also available in other French regions, California, Italy and Australia.
En Primeur orders are typically delivered two years after the offer’s closing date, and for the most wanted wines, it is recommended to order for many years consecutively as the wineries give preference to long-standing clients. This way of ordering also helps the wineries secure capital needed in advance to alleviate costs and expenses of producing high quality, limited production wine.
