What is En Primeur?
En Primeur is a French term known in English as “Wine Futures”. This is the purchase of wine whilst still maturing in barrel. Wines are secured and paid for in a defined sales period by customers for delivery at a later date, depending on the region and the producer itself. Wines purchased en primeur are usually stored in bonded cellars and some customers choose to trade their wines at a later date.
Le Clos has for many years offered Bordeaux en primeur which will continue. In 2020 Le Clos was delighted to offer its first Burgundy en primeur offer with the 2018 vintage.
Why buy En Primeur?
The main advantages of buying en primeur are:
- To own a wine from the start of its life, as provenance is priceless.
- To purchase wines at the initial release prices. Wines rereleased after bottling will usually be more expensive and generally gain in value as stocks are depleted.
- To secure allocations of small-production wines that may not be commercially available after the en primeur release.
- To be able to choose large format wines – magnums, double magnums and in some cases jeroboams and imperials. Large format wines become more rare and sought after over time. In most cases half bottles are also available.
Why buy from Le Clos?
- Provenance: Le Clos only deals directly with the producers or their approved network of négociants to ensure the pristine presentation of the wines delivered to your chosen cellar.
- Depth and diversity: Thanks to Le Clos’ exclusive relationships we have unparalleled access to a vast range of châteaux and domaines in Bordeaux, Burgundy and the rest of the world.
- Guidance: Help and advice from an experienced team: the Le Clos team is always ready to share their expertise.
- Security: As part of the Emirates Group Le Clos offers you complete financial security when paying in advance for goods .
- Free delivery: Delivery to any bonded warehouse in UK and Bordeaux. We will endeavor to arrange delivery to any location of your choice with competitive rates thanks to our global logistics relationships. Please note that in some countries importation restrictions apply. We also offer delivery through our Al Hamra store in RAK. Taxes and duties apply. Please contact us for a quote.
- Trading wines: Le Clos launches its new self brokerage system in May 2020. This service will allow individuals to access the world’s largest fine wine trading platform via Le Clos’ membership, giving unrivalled access to professional and private buyers, and wines for sale.
Securing you purchase
Please note that in the event of a wine being over-subscribed we will allocate it to our customers as fairly as possible according to the following criteria:
- Previous en primeur purchase – If you bought a château on release in any of the last three vintages you are more certain to be offered it this year upon request.
- Regular buyers – We will of course also try to give allocations of particular wines to customers who buy them regularly throughout the year through our retail outlets.
Own your en primeur in five easy steps:
- Make your selection online or you can contact the Le Clos team for assistance.
- For online orders payment can be processed immediately via credit card.
- A certificate of ownership will be issued once payment is received.
- Once the wine is released from the winery we will contact you to ask for your preferred storage options.
- Wines will arrive in the UK under bond as default.
Pricing
- Our en primeur prices include delivery from France to the UK, insurance and warehouse receiving charges, but they exclude duty and V.A.T. which will be payable only if wines are later cleared from bond. Customers who wish to buy for export, under bond transfer or bond collection have nothing further to pay. There are no initial storage charges for en primeur wines.
- Payment is taken at the time of booking the wines. The cost of the wine is charged in Euros with the option to pay in Arab Emirate Dirhams at the exchange rate of the day. Payment can be made by credit card or bank transfer. Associated bank transfer fees will be borne by the customer.
Storage charges
When wines are ready to be transferred to bond we will contact our customers to obtain storage or delivery instructions.
Le Clos will be launching its own bonded storage service at competitive rates from May 2020, open to all Le Clos customers.