En Primeur Wine

We have been buying En Primeur wine for over fifteen years, from well established negociants. Each year we collect as much information as we can, speak with our trusted insiders, weigh up the supply and demand, in an endeavour to get the best for our customers. If you are interested in buying En Primeur please contact James Goodhart. We also publish vintage guides and our 'take' on vintages as they are released, please email James to receive a copy. We also publish some on our blog www.bcfw.co.uk/blog 

Our Top Tips for Investing

• Proof of good providence of the wine is crucial.
• Always keep the wines In Bond so the you don’t have to pay Duty and VAT. It’s best to have your own Account in Bond.
• Always deal with a well established Wine Merchant(s)
• It’s about simple Economic’s. Suppy and Demand. Large demand and limited supply will increase prices.
• Top wine critic’s often increase demand. Robert Parker is the most influential of these.  You can sign up to their reports and views all now have websites.
• Avoid buying fashionable wines like ‘Garage wines’ as they can drop from favour. Best to stay with blue chip, well known wines.
• If you want to keep track of the value of your portfolio sign up to Liv-ex Cellar Watch www.livex.com  where you can follow the highs and lows of your investment. Liv-ex is the global market place for fine wine and a great information resource.

Interview with James Goodhart, Managing Director of Bon Coeur Fine Wines

Why invest in fine wine?
Over the last 3 years there has been a large increase in customers buying wine for investment. With increased volatility in stocks and shares and a weak property market many have been looking for good alternative investments and the opportunity to diversify their portfolios. With this in mind we have experienced an increase in demand for investment wine which is now on the international stage. Buyers from and not just for the European and Americans.

We have witnessed an impressive return over the last two to three years. This has been highlighted by Chateau Lafite 2008 which was bought in May 2009 for £1600 to now being worth over £10,000 a case. Presently if you personally own and sell your wine there is no capital gains tax on the profits you make.

Is it exclusive to Bordeaux?
No. Bordeaux has historically performed the best, however top Champagnes like Krug Vintage and Dom Perignon can do well in good vintages. Burgundy is now beginning to feature. The 2009 vintage in Burgundy was exceptional, we sold out of the Grand Cru’s in days. However we are yet to see the big returns however, some wines like Domaine Romanee Conti are bucking the trend, only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the 2010 vintage?
2010 Bordeaux is without doubt an excellent vintage and a unique vintage. A vintage of extremes; fantastic fruit, acidity, tannins and alcohol. To my knowledge we have never had a vintage with so many extremes, therefore it is hard to compare to another vintage. In terms of fruits it has the power and concentration of the 2005. The cool nights in August and September have resulted in higher acidity levels which often gives the wines a refreshing lift. The tannins are more apparent than the 2009 vintage however the fruit levels are more than a match and when all these components are blended well it is without doubt a fabulous vintage.

It is hard not to be impressed by the vintage. The big question for me is how these four components will blend together. It terms of grapes the Cabernet has performed the best. Some of the Merlot suffered from difficult flowering in June and the bunches of grapes didn’t set properly, however, this has in some cases help to concentrate the flavours. There are exceptional wines on both banks.  In my opinion the ‘left bank’ (St Estephe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux) have the advantage in 2010.

In many instances prices for the 2010’s were high however we managed to get some good allocations of wines that we feel will be a valuable part of a working investment cellar.

How do I find out more about En Primeur wines?
Each April I attend the tastings in Bordeaux. Along with all the wine critics, journalists and other merchants I spend a week travelling around the different appellations and taste all the wines. I then produce a vintage report which we send out to a specialist list of interested parties. If you would like to receive my report, please email me. Once the wines are released we then sell the wines. Some wines are on special allocation only as we simply do not receive enough to go around. Prior to release we ask our customers for a  wish list and try to allocate as fairly as possible, taking into consideration who has bought in previous years and the amount of wine available.