How the market works

The fine wine market has three primary layers. The en primeur market, also called futures, is where Bordeaux in particular is sold before bottling. Merchants offer wine at a price set approximately eighteen months before the bottles arrive. The logic is that great vintages bought en primeur at release price will appreciate by the time they are delivered and further as they age

The secondary market operates through auction houses, merchants trading in older bottles, and the Liv-ex exchange, which functions as a professional trading platform for the wine trade. Liv-ex price data is the most comprehensive available for the serious end of the market. The private cellar market, where individual collectors sell directly, operates through specialist auction houses, merchants who buy in cellars, and increasingly through specialist online platforms.

CollectorGrade take

En primeur only makes sense for great vintages from great producers in Bordeaux and Burgundy. For lesser vintages or lesser producers, buying at release price and paying storage for two years is rarely superior to buying the bottles when they arrive on the secondary market.