2016 is unquestionably remarkable in Bordeaux, combining quality, quantity, and a very classic style.

Transcription

1 EN PRIMEUR BORDEAUX is unquestionably remarkable in Bordeaux, combining quality, quantity, and a very classic style. B4 Centrepoin Rosemount Business Park Ballycoolin Dublin D11 KH50 Ireland +353 (0) sales@tindalwine.com

2 THE WEATHER AND GROWING SEASON The vintage report which follows is taken from the 2016 vintage assessment from Bordeaux as prepared by Dr. Axel Marchal, Dr. Valérie Lavigne and Prof. Laurence Gény. A successful red wine vintage depends on five essential conditions: (1) and (2) Relatively quick flowering and fruit-set during weather that is sufficiently warm and dry. (3) The gradual onset of water stress thanks to a warm, dry month of July in order to slow down and then put a definitive stop to vine growth no later than the beginning of véraison (colour change). (4) Full ripening of the various grape varieties thanks to dry and warm (but not excessively so) weather in the months of August and September. (5) Fine (relatively dry and medium-warm) weather during the harvest making it possible to pick the grapes in each plot at optimum ripeness without running the risk of dilution, rot, or loss of fruity aromas. An incredibly wet spring was quite worrying for winegrowers at the time (danger of fungal diseases), but later proved to be a godsend. The soil's water reserves were largely reconstituted, enabling the vines to cope with the exceptionally dry, hot summer. The grapes finished ripening during beautiful, relatively warm weather, with very little rain and cool nights. This unexpected, simply incredible weather for Bordeaux made it possible to harvest deeply-coloured, aromatic grapes with beautiful acidity. rainfall with mild temperatures. Cold temperatures in March and waterlogged soils due to heavy precipitation in the early part of the year delayed bud break, which began the last week in March, one week later than usual, but earlier than 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015, and later than 2011 and Despite the rather early bud break, the weather until late May delayed vine growth. Phenological development was also slower than usual. This situation was compounded in some regions by frost on the last three days of April that caused major damage in localised areas. It was these severe frosts that also devastated the vineyards through Chablis, Burgundy and the Loire valley. Flowering began during rainy weather in the last days of May. However, there was a providential window of dry, warm weather between the 3rd and the 11th of June. The change in the weather fortunately avoided widespread coulure. Fruit set occurred 8 days after flowering with the bunches being relatively homogeneous. After three days of rain in mid-june, beautiful weather finally set in and lasted for quite some time. This definitively changed the nature of the vintage. High temperatures in the last ten days of June enhanced berry development. At this stage, the first two prerequisites for a good vintage, i.e. quick even flowering and fruit set, were fulfilled in most plots. Overall maturity was uniform with little coulure. Although the year 2015 ended on an especially dry, sunny note, 2016 started off with three months in a row with greater than average The remarkably fine weather in late June continued into July and August.

3 The water balance in late July was not conducive to stopping vegetative growth definitively or triggering véraison in a significant way, except on clay-gravel soils. The grapes first began to change colour in the last days of July on terroirs prone to early ripening. However, seeing as vegetative growth had not completely stopped, véraison got off to a slow start. It took until the first week of August for colour change to become noticeably widespread. Water stress was accentuated by the absence of rain. The situation was comparable to 2010 midway through véraison. The weather at this point was propitious to achieving the end of véraison. A halt to vegetative growth, the 3rd condition for a great red wine vintage, was attained by mid-véraison. Although this occurred slightly later than hoped, colour change was complete enough for a perfect start to ripening. In late August, a few instances of scorching were noticed in vines that had undergone excessive leaf thinning and everyone began to wonder about the danger of inhibited ripening. A heat wave arrived in early September, with average temperatures of C. The first 13 days of September were the hottest since 1950, reaching a record 37 C in Sauternes on the 12th of September. A storm arrived from the Basque Country late in the afternoon of the 13th of September. It rained throughout Bordeaux the following night, with varying intensity depending on the region. A depression lasting three days brought as much as 40 cm of rain in some parts of Bordeaux. However, the sun returned on the 20th of September and, with it, fine weather that lasted until the end of the harvest. This rainy period gave a new impetus to ripening. Cabernet Sauvignon and late-ripening Merlot grapes benefited particularly from this. A sunny mid-september and month of October virtually without any rain completed ripening and made for a leisurely harvest Once again, the month of September was decisive for the quality of the vintage. October was dry and sunny, with cool nights making it possible to wait serenely for the best time to pick all grape varieties. The rain in early September, followed by a dry, but not excessively hot period, ensured that ripening would start up again the fourth condition for a great red wine vintage. The month of October was just as sunny, but cooler, enabling the Cabernets to ripen fully. The red wine harvest began with the most early-maturing plots of Merlot in the third week of September, but most grapes were picked in early October, i.e. one week later than usual. Harvesting of the Cabernets and Petit Verdot went on until just after mid-october during sunny weather. Therefore, the fifth and final prerequisite for a good red wine vintage fine weather during the harvest was perfectly fulfilled in The best white wine terroirs in Bordeaux (limestone, clay-limestone, and clay-gravel soils) protected the vines from premature or overly severe water stress. Sauvignon Blanc grapes retained surprising aromatic freshness and acidity on these types of soils. The Sémillon grapes were also very successful: plump and tender. The 2016 dry white wines are good. They are fruity and flavoursome, less acidic than the three previous vintages, and well-balanced. The Sémillon wines were especially successful in 2016, adding body and softness to the blend, but without heaviness. The dry, hot summer of 2016 was also conducive to the perfect maturity of grapes in Sauternes and Barsac prior to the development of botrytis. This is a vital prerequisite for the quality of sweet white wines. Two short, but significant rainy periods triggered the development of noble rot starting in mid-september. This was followed by a return to an anticyclone propitious to concentrating the grapes. Very spread out in 2016, the harvest began in the latter half of September and finished in early November. The great wines of Sauternes and Barsac are extremely pure. Very rich and showing candied fruit overtones, they display a style that emphasises power rather than bright aromatics or freshness. At the beginning of ageing, the 2016 red wines give every indication of being outstanding. They have an amazing colour. They are also fruity, without any herbaceousness, and combine the tannic power of great vintages with a deliciously velvety texture. Their relatively high level of acidity gives them an admirable freshness and tremendous balance, without any hardness. The vintage is unprecedented, more classic than 2009 or 2015, and seems to have very long ageing potential.

4 Nigel Werner and William Tindal's BORDEAUX PRIMEUR WEEK At the beginning of April every year the Bordelais producers open their doors to introduce the wines of the previous year s vintage to the International wine trade and leading journalists alike. It is the most important week of the year for the Bordeaux Chateaux owners as their wines are tasted and assessed for their quality and saleability, this is before the prices are released some weeks later as part of the En Primeur Campaign. For this year s Primeur week, Nigel Werner and William Tindal travelled to Bordeaux for a week of tastings of the 2016 vintage which has already been hailed as another Great Vintage, the second, if third year in a row following on from the slightly underrated 2014 and the excellent This report combines both William s and Nigel s impressions of the vintage and the tastings. Soon after our arrival on the evening of Monday April 3rd we headed to a tasting of the wines from the Graves appellation which took place in the wonderful iconic buildings of Place de la Borse that used to house the stock exchange. Here we met up with Nicola Allison who, with her kiwi husband Sean, own the properties of Chateau de Seuil and Chateau L Avocat. Nicola told us how pleased she was with the vintage which certainly showed in the quality of the wines. This was followed by a tasting hosted by the negociante company from whom we buy most of our Bordeaux wines, at which many Chateaux owners were showing various vintages of their wines. Our negociante, Guillaume, kindly offered to drive us around for the next few days, and on the Tuesday morning we met up with 6 other customers of theirs from Belgium and Germany, with the same mission for the week. The main tastings of the week are arranged by the Union des Grands Crus (UGC) to represent the main communes of Bordeaux. There are also many additional tastings throughout the region as well as special invitations and appointments to key Chateaux whose wines are not necessarily represented at the UGC tastings. Tuesday April 4th St Julien and Margaux Our first appointment was with Lilian Barton Sartorius at Chateau Langoa Barton in St Julien, half way up the Medoc on the Left Bank. Where better a place to start, than with Lilian s friendly Irish welcome. She told us they had a textbook early growing season but the flowering was inconsistent which can lead to a significantly reduced crop. A hot dry summer followed with cool nights meaning it was less stressful for the vines. A few days rain in mid-september dramatically transformed the vintage enabling the grapes to swell sufficiently with further heat to give them perfect ripeness to produce a Miracle Vintage. The Chateau Langoa Barton showed very fine concentration of ripe black fruits with excellent balance and ample tannins, while the Chateau Leoville Barton which always impresses, has great depth with core black fruit flavours underpinned with classic graphite notes and fine tannins, an excitingly promising wine.

5 We then headed off back down the Medoc to Chateau Kirwan in Margaux which was hosting one of the UGC tastings. Margaux is the largest commune of the Medoc which can result in a level of inconsistency between the wines at times. Quite a number of wines stood out as highlights of the commune, Chateau Rauzan Gassies, with a creamy style and abundant blackcurrant flavours, Chateau Rauzan Segla, sweet ripe fruit approach good intensity, Chateau Prieure Lichine showed lush vibrant fruit with excellent balance and length, Chateau Lascombes is very intense with a mellow centre with brambly fruit, Chateau du Tertre showed a lovely round smooth texture with smart berry character, Chateau Siran is usually a good value wine and lived up to expectation with a mellow brambly style, while Chateau Labegorce and Chateau Monbrison both impressed, the surprise of the commune for me was Chateau Desmirail which is seldom of interest but this vintage it has excelled and just might offer good value. On completing the Margaux tasting we headed back up the Medoc to Chateau Talbot for the commune tasting of St Julien s wines. Having already tasted Lilian s two wines we had an idea of what to expect from this fine commune and we were not disappointed. These were certainly high performing wines, with Cabernet Sauvignon being the star grape variety of the vintage, most St Juliens have over 60% in their blend. Charlotte Deanjean of Chateau Lagrange pointed out the lateness of their harvest with wonderful ripe grapes brought great depth and freshness to the wine, making it one of their best wines of the last 10 years. Other Chateaux to excel in this commune were Chateau Gruaud Larose with sweet ripe fruit and a luscious concentration, while Chateau Beychevelle It seems that Margaux scored quite well for me with good consistency throughout. In general the fruit was good quality. In this commune the tannins and acidity are more noticeable than others but the fruit was mostly able to handle it. Best wines; Prieure Lichine, Lascombes, Giscours, Desmirail, Brane Cantenac. WT. St-Julien showed some of the highest scoring wines but it was dependent on the Chateau as to which performed well. It showed more finesse than Pauillac which is probably normal. Perhaps the higher scoring Chateau were due to the terroir. Best wines; Leoville Poferre, Leoville Barton, Beychevelle, Saint Pierre. WT. was elegant and fragrant with a creamy style and Chateau Gloria was quite powerful with tobacco notes and good acidity. Chateau Branaire Ducru and Chateau Leoville Poyferre were also most impressive both showing distinctive blackberry fruit character with Chateau Poyferre just having the edge on its purity and concentration. A very strong performance from this ever popular commune, even though we didn t get to taste the top wines of Ducru and Las Cases, we can rest assured that they will be at their best this vintage having received some of the highest scores from some tasting professionals. Tuesday Pauillac and St Estephe We then journeyed up to St Estephe a with visit to Chateau Lafon Rochet where Basile Tesseron was delighted with his wine, praising the late vintage for giving him such wonderfully mature ripe grapes that made for a very easily manageable vinification in his recently installed state

6 of the art cellars, the wine has a lot of charm and sophistication and should be good value as the prices of the top Chateaux of the appellation seem to hit the stratosphere! Our second St Estephe appointment was with Chateau Montrose which for me has produced one of the great wines of the vintage, and Le Dame de Montrose looked impressive too. Saint Estephe seems to have pretty good fruit but not as good as that of the other communes on the left bank, they also therefore have quite high tannins to contend with, these wines will need time to age. Best wines; Lafon Rochet, Montrose. WT. It was time to head back down the Medoc and taste the wines from Pauillac and St Estephe. On our way we dropped in, with an appointment, to Chateau Pedesclaux which wouldn t usually be on the visitation list. However the property was taken over by Jacky Lorenzetti, owner of Racing Metro rugby team, and a huge investment had been made into vineyards and cuverie alike in order to improve the quality and ultimately reputation of Chateau Pedesclaux. They certainly seem to be getting things right from the start as the wine showed very well and could be a good value pick for this vintage. We arrived at Chateau Batailley for the UGC tasting of Pauillac and St Estephe communes wines with much anticipation, as this year has turned out to be the vintage of the Northern Medoc with the strength of the Cabernet Sauvignon to the fore. Again Pauillac was a very high performing commune with many great wines, we didn t get to taste the First Growths as they do not present at the UGC tastings. What we did taste was surely not too far behind the Firsts with both Chateaux Pichon Baron and Comtesse outperforming all others as they both showed wonderful complexity and great concentration with harmonious silky tannins. Chateau Lynch Bages and Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste were closing in on the Pichons, quality wise with a very good effort from Chateau Croizet Bages and Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse for a change. Chateau Ormes de Pez which is owned and run by the Lynch Bages team was showing a fine intensity of fruit with ample tannins and admirable length. Pauillac showed powerful fruit and very good structural tannins which should be most of the components to give ageworthy wines. It is the consistently highest scoring commune between Chateau. Best wines; Lynch Bages, Grand puy Lacoste, Pichon Baron, Pichon Logueville (showed better than usual), Clerc Milon, Batailley, Armailhac, Pedesclaux. WT. Our first intensive days tasting had finally come to an end and we returned to Bordeaux for a much needed thirst quenching beer before a fun night out with our group in one of Bordeaux lively eateries, Le Bar de Boucher. Wednesday April 5th Pomerol and St Emilion Day two was to be spent on the Right Bank, tasting St Emilion and Pomerol and an early start was needed to be on time for our first appointment with Jean Pierre Moueix in Libourne. Jean Pierre Moueix are one of the most important wine families of Bordeaux, especially the Right Bank where they own many Chateaux and look after the vineyard management and winemaking of a number of others. This was a particularly interesting tasting as their wines are new to our portfolio this year and will hopefully form the core of our Right Bank En Pimeur offering. This is where Merlot is the most predominant grape variety with one or two exceptions. Both St Emilions, Chateau Puy Blanquet and Chateau Pindefleurs showed excellent ripeness of fruit, compact and with a well-structured palate. Amongst the Pomerols the Chateau Lafleur Gazin, with a fine concentrated creamy style and Chateau Latour a Pomerol, that was rich supple and harmonious certainly stood out. J-P Moueix s top Chateaux were stunning and included Chateau Certan du May, Chateau Hosanna, Chateau La Fleur Petrus and Chateau Trotanoy while their star St Emilion 1er Grand Cru Classe Chateau Belair-Monange lived up to expectation.

7 In Pomerol the wines of Moueix showed well, there were no massive scorers but most reached the good threshold, perhaps due to the circumstance or surroundings of the tasting. I found that the wines at the UGC tasting often had tannins and sometimes astringence to outweigh the fruit quality on offer. Only one or two scored in the good category. Moueix Best wines; Puy Blanquet, Bel- Air (Lalande), Plince, Latour a Pomerol, La Fleur Petrus, Belair Monage, de Sales UGC Tasting Petit Villages and Beauregard were the best of a difficult bunch. WT We then joined up with the rest of our group for the UGC tasting of St Emilions, taking place at Chateau Couspade. As ever within the greater St Emilion appellation there was certainly a level of inconsistency amongst the wines, which we hadn t seen throughout the Medoc. We all found they were more difficult to taste and assess but there were a few wines which impressed, in particular Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere with strong dark fruit character and a rich creamy texture, Chateau La Couspade itself showed well with distinctive spicy notes and a harmonious palate, Clos Fourtet and Chateau Soutard also stood out from the crowd. Fortunately these were not the only St Emilions we tasted as we also had appointments with Chateau Cheval Blanc St Emilion did not show very well with only a few scoring above 17. It appears that they failed to get the fruit quality, probably due to the poorer drainage in these soils as well as the earlier ripening grape varieties unable to ripen further after the rains. Best Wines; Figeac, Carillan d Angelus, Angelus, Cheval Blanc (not as good as 2015), Latour Figeac, Troplong Mondot, La Dominique. WT. and Chateau Figeac where a real treat was in store for us. Chateau Figeac looks like being one of the top Right Bank wines of the vintage with their blend of 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc and 30% Merlot, the success of the Cabernets had a big influence on the wine. Likely to be one of the best Figeacs ever made in the recent era, it has amazing depth of colour an already penetrating dark fruit aroma with wonderfully rich harmonious structure and superlative graphite notes on the palate. It is certainly hard not to be impressed with Chateau Cheval Blanc as it never lets you down, until you find out the price! It shows great complexity and concentration coupled with elegance and pure balance, it should certainly age gracefully. There is another wine produced by the team here, Chateau Quinault L Enclos, which I have followed over a few vintages and it should offer very good value and has a mellow rich structure, and is recommended. There were a few other tastings in the St Emilion area, not all of which we managed to attend, but the significant one held at Chateau L Angelus is always worth seeking out. There were many interesting wines on show here in the more affordable category as these Chateaux all use one of Bordeaux s leading and most respected consultants, Hubert de Bouard. It gave us a chance to assess a number of good Cru Bourgeois wines namely Chateau Lamothe Bergeron, Chateau Lanessan, Chateau Cambon La Pelouse, to name but a few and it showed that this vintage has many excellent wines down the ranks and this is where you should be able to find value for money wines that will make enjoyable drinking over the next five to fifteen years. Before we left the Right Bank we attended the UGC tasting of the Pomerols at Chateau la Pointe, which did have some notable wines in the case of Chateau La Croix de Gay and Chateau Petit Village, but it was the Jean Pierre Moueiux Pomerols that really impressed.

8 Thursday April 6th Pessac Leognan, Medoc, Haut Medoc and Sauternes On our return to Bordeaux we were fortunate to have an invitation to the launch of the 2016 vintage of Chateau d Yquem, Sauternes, an invitation that couldn t be turned down. Much to our delight this was more of a reception than a tasting. It is very difficult to spit out Chateau d Yquem at the best of times but certainly not here where we enjoyed a few glasses as a suitable aperitif before the Ban du Millesime. This is the annual dinner to celebrate the new vintage in Bordeaux as arranged by the Commanderie du Bontemps that William, Harriet and myself had been initiated into last year. It was a most enjoyable evening attended by some 600 people including members of the Commanderie, Chateau owners, negociantes and guests from around the world which we were privileged to be part of. The final day of tastings started off at Chateau Carbonnieux in Pessac Leognon for the UGC tasting of both the reds and whites from this appellation which is directly south and on the outskirts of Bordeaux. This is generally quite a difficult range of wines to taste with the very young whites often not easy to assess. It is fair to say that the appellation was not quite as successful as the northern Medoc communes. There were a number of stand-out wines with the high flyers of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte and Chateau Pape Clement impressing along with Domaine de Chevalier and les Carmes Haut Brion in the reds. As for the whites wines Chateau Bouscaut surprised as being very forward with excellent development, while Chateau Carbonnieux showed well as ever and Chateau de Fieuzal showed quite a strong citrus character with good weight. We didn t quite have enough time to complete the full tasting here as we had to head off to Chateau Haut Brion for our appointment for which we had to be on time. Chateau Haut Brion is of course one of the great First Growth Chateaux of Bordeaux and is situated very close to the city amongst the suburbs, the vineyards being completely surrounded by housing. It is owned by Clarence Dillon and is presided over by Prince Robert of Luxembourg. The tasting was beautifully set up in their Orangerie and was laid out as a sit down tasting with nine wines from their estates of Chateau Quintas in St Emilion (which used to be known as Tertre Daugay), Chateau La Mission Haut Brion and Chateau Haut Brion. As one might expect these were excellent wines which one seldom gets the opportunity to taste especially the excellent whites which represent a small proportion of the production. The second wine of each Chateau was also offered for tasting along with the grand vin, the La

9 Mission showed wonderful complexity with a sublime strong fruit character while the Haut Brion (56% Merlot 37% Cabernet Sauvignon) had amazing concentration with layers of flavour with impressive length. This was certainly one of the highlight tastings of the week. Pessac Leognan was fine, the obvious standout was Haut Brion - funny that! Best white wines; Pique Caillou and Dom de Chevalier. La Mission Haut Brion and Haut Brion reds and whites were excellent, white both red and white for Haut Brion being the highlights of the campaign. WT. We were not finished yet, as we headed back up to the Medoc to Chateau Cantemerle for what I always regard as one of the most important tastings of Primeur week, the UGC tasting of Medoc and Haut Medoc Chateaux. This is where we hope to find the value wines of the vintage which everyone is looking for. Both Chateau Fourcas Dupre and Hosten from the less popular but nonetheless noteworthy commune of Listrac showed really well with beautifully defined fruit and structure. The ever popular Chateau Chasse Spleen was impressive, packed with sweet ripe fruit a lovely expression and balance which was significantly better than last year s wine which disappointed. Both Chateau Maucaillou and Chateau Poujeaux from the same Moulis appellation were right on song with Maucaillou the best for me. Chateau Beaumont showed a very deep colour with opulent fruit and the Cru Classe Chateau Cantemerle was developing well with appealing dark fruit aromas and palate with an elegant structure and should hopefully be good value. Chateau La Lagune the other important Haut Medoc Cru Classe has been producing greatly improved wines over the past number of years and has continued in the vein with it s excellent 2016, it has great concentration with abundant ripe sweet fruit with finely balanced tannins. We didn t get the chance to attend the UGC tasting of Sauternes and Barsac but I did manage to taste some of them at another negociantes tasting conveniently across the road from Chateau Cantemerle. There was a very large range of wines to taste there and it gave me the opportunity to assess many wines that had not been shown earlier in the week. It was another good year for Sauternes but maybe not quite up to the level of 2015, three wines that did impress were Chateau Coutet with delightful tropical notes of mango, Chateau Guiraud was a lighter more citrus style while Chateau Sigalas Rabaud was smooth with lovely citrus character. This additional tasting threw up a number of other interesting wines, in particular Chateau La Vieille Cure one of Fronsac s best Chateau which was most impressive. Chateau Potensac Medoc, and Chateau Puygeraud Franc Cotes de Bordeaux, showed well and Chateau Sociando Mallet which is actually situated above St Estephe in the northern Medoc was very plush and harmonious while Chateau Calon Segur re-affirmed the excellence of St Estephe in this vintage with a deeply concentrated abundantly rich wine. Overall this is certainly a vintage that the true Claret lover should desire to have in their cellars. Many will already have bought into the 2015 s and rightly so but the 2016 is that bit better and will shows great potential for the future. There have been a number of pairs of great vintages in recent years, 1989 and 1990, 1995 and 1996, 2000 and 2001, 2009 and 2010 and now we have the pleasures of 2015 and 2016 to look forward to. For long term investors with deep pockets, 2016 should be of interest for those with patience as pay back can take anything from eight to ten years and beyond depending also on the economic climate of the intervening years. Listrac and Moulis showed fine; Fourcas- Dupre for quite an elegant style and Chasse Spleen for a fuller style. WT.

10 What is buying En Primeur? The vintage has been written up extensively by all the leading wine journalists where you might be interested to get their En Primeur, also known as Wine Futures, refers to the process recommendations. The most noteworthy being Jancis of buying Fine Wine before it is bottled. It has traditionally Robinson through her own website and Neal Martin who been the way Bordeaux Chateaux release their wine from the critics for the Wine most recent vintage. LAKESIDE Advocate, James Suckling and the Wine "I DO'S" Spectator, but you will have to subscribe to them in order to How does En Primeur work? get their full reports. Decanter magazine also gives a comprehensive report and is always a good reference. Bordeaux Chateaux release their wine at opening prices in the Spring following the vintage. The Primeur campaign, as it Pricing is known, usually takes a number of weeks as the Chateau At the time of publishing our report the wines are gradually owners take time in releasing their wine allocations and pricing. being released and we are seeing slight increases from the The wine remains in the Chateau for a further 12 to 18 months 2015 vintage for the Petit Chateau and some Cru Bourgeois. before it is bottled and then shipped about 6 months The likelihood is that pricing on the Big Names will rise thereafter. between 10% and 15% and they may well test the market by releasing their wine in tranches. The consequence will be, The wines are offered for sale excluding duty and VAT which rising prices during the campaign depending on, if and when only becomes liable when the wines are eventually taken out of one might be able to acquire the wines. The sooner you can bond. Current rate of duty is for a 9 litre case of 12 x commit to requesting these wines the better the pricing may be. 75cl bottles with 23%, this may change by the time you take delivery of your wine. Why Buy En Primeur? Compiled by Nigel Werner, Director of Fine Wines, Tindal Wine Merchants and William Tindal Director, Tindal Wine Merchants. Buying Bordeaux Chateau wines at opening prices is considered the most cost effective way of acquiring the wines before they go on general release in about three years after the vintage. It also gives you the greatest choice when you can purchase from an extensive range that may not be available in years to come. You also have the opportunity to have your wine bottled in any format you wish, either half bottle, regular bottle or increasingly popular magnums or double magnums. Buying En Primeur has proved to be most beneficial in the best vintages like 1982, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and now 2016 is in the same category. B4 Centrepoin Rosemount Business Park Ballycoolin Dublin D11 KH50 Ireland +353 (0) sales@tindalwine.com