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EN PRIMEUR
The Antique Wine Company not only supplies wines
from mature vintages of proven longevity, but also
those fine wines capable of becoming the antique
wines of the future.
Overview -
why buy En Primeur?
'En primeur'
is a method of purchasing wine while is undergoing
maturation in the barrel, prior to bottling. It’s a type of
futures investment which enables you to buy wine well ahead of its general
release on to the market, at a lower price, in the anticipation that the price will subsequently rise quite
significantly in the interim. Also, it can be
the only way to secure significant quantities of
wines that are normally only available in limited
amounts.
Preview of 2009 En Primeur
Merchants and critics alike are waiting in anticipation to verify the quality of the 2009
vintage. The buying team at The Antique Wine Company
are attending this year's
En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux in March and negotiating our allocations which will be on offer
from April 2010. See Stephen Williams'
FineWineBlog for the daily tasting results.
During our monitoring of the 2009 harvest it
became clear that this vintage was going to
produce concentrated wines of high quality. Our
associates at top chateaux also share our
excitement about prospects for a great vintage.
Comparisons have been drawn with the hallowed 1982
vintage. We are anticipating one of those rare
vintages that provide for stunning, memorable, and
complex wines.
Please read the preliminary report from
James Suckling, set out below, for more information.
Allocation system
We expect a very strong demand for the 2009
Primeur campaign. Please register
your interest in 2009 En Primeur
here.
Please note that customers who purchased 2008
vintage En Primeur with The Antique Wine Company will have priority allocations.
2009 vintage assessment by James Suckling
(Bordeaux expert
from the Wine Spectator)
How good was 2009 to Bordeaux? A number of
vintners say that their wines are already so
fantastic that they are enjoying them straight
from the vat. Some are heralding the vintage as
their best ever.
"I have never seen anything like it in my career,"
said Christian Moueix, whose family owns or
manages some of the most prestigious wineries on
Bordeaux's Right Bank, including Pétrus, La
Fleur-Pétrus and Trotanoy. Moueix has been making
wine in Pomerol and St.-Emilion since 1971.
Thomas Dô-Chi-Nam, the winemaker of Pauillac's
Pichon-Lalande, who started making wine at the
second-growth in 1992, echoed that. "It is my best
harvest ever", he said.
The year started with unseasonably wet weather for
most of winter and spring. Some areas,
particularly Right Bank appellations such as
Pomerol and St.-Emilion, as well as Margaux, were
hard hit by hail in the spring. Yet the weather
during the summer was impeccably warm, dry and
sunny.
Some producers were concerned that the vintage
could turn into a scorcher like 2003, which
produced exciting but atypically fruity wines. But
the water table in the soil was high enough to
offset the dry summer, keeping the vines green and
growing. A little rain the first week of September
and a few weeks later revived the vines
completely, helping them mature their fruit to
near perfection.
Cazes said that many wineries thought that 2009
would be an early harvest because of the warm
summer, but they picked their grapes during the
third week of September in Pauillac, which is
fairly normal. Moreover, the clear and warm
weather during the harvest allowed them to pick
their grapes slowly, parcel by parcel, and at just
the desired moment.
Vintners in Bordeaux are already
making comparisons to some of the modern legends
of the region including 2005, 1989 and 1982. "I
don't like to make early comparisons to other
vintages," said Anthony Barton of Léoville Barton,
who also said the year is one of his best ever.
(He has been making wine since the 1950s.) "So I
usually say that it is like something obscure like
1870 or 1865."
Jokes aside, the vintage appears to be sensational.
I have never heard such across-the-board praise
for a young vintage in my three decades of tasting
young vintages in Bordeaux. Even the normally
cautious and reserved voices of the region are
hyping the fledgling vintage.
"My father says that the vintage reminds him of
1982", added Cazes, whose first vintage as the
head of Lynch-Bages was in 2006. "I just like to
say it is a smiling vintage. Everyone is very,
very happy about 2009."
En Primeur - What do I pay?
Prices quoted are exclusive of duty and VAT (but inclusive of insurance and shipping).
Duty and VAT can be deferred once the wines arrive in the UK so long as the wines are
stored in a government registered bonded warehouse. If you anticipate that you may
wish to sell your wines at a later stage, storing wines “in bond” is preferable for
investment purposes. If you wish to take your wines out of bond or wish to have
them delivered upon release (normally 2 years from the vintage), UK duty must be
paid (currently £19.20 per case of still wine) and 17.5% VAT on the cost of the wine
and the duty combined. Rates of Duty and VAT are subject to change.
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