En primeur 2007: the chase

I think I may have finally decided I’m in the wrong business based solely on the en primeur acquisition we’ve undertaken in the last few months. To explain: we are traders in the fine wine industry and we advise a wine investment fund on its acquisition.

Our consultancy with the wine fund is recent and with the new found cash we have joined the en primeur race and have stocked up on a number of cases, including Lafite Rothschild, Leoville Las Cases, Yquem, and I’m pretty sure we’ve got some others floating around like Haut Brion and Lafleur.

Great for the investment fund, I imagine, despite the 2007 vintage being dubbed a difficult one. So far my boss has been pretty shrewd about his purchases, and these en primeur we only ever buy at convenient prices.

Call me a hopeless romantic, say I don’t what I’m talking about in terms of the wine industry, but I find it disappointing these wines are destined for investment. That is to say we have purchased cases of wine that will never be drunk.

I think en primeur purchases have their place in the industry if you want to secure your wine prior to commercial release, but I wonder who really drinks the above mentioned wines anymore. And does it bother the wine makers that their efforts go into wine that will never be consumed? Doubtful, given the money they're making.

I think there is a need to separate these two sub-industries within the wine sector itself: fine wine for investment and wine that people actually drink. I find it ironic that qualifications for my job included a knowledge of and passion for, wine. So far I’ve barely touched a bottle, and I certainly haven’t had a whiff of these wines, let alone ripped the cork out of one.

For me passion for wine is about challenging your senses, sharing your drinking, advising others on what you found worthwhile, seeking out new things to try, and exploring the efforts of producers who are interested in consumers experiencing their wine to the fullest.

But in our business we’re about growing the value of the portfolio, and our Lafite Rothschild 2007 is rushing off to wine storage in Geneva. So we’re achieving on the basis of our job, but when the fund suggests that investing in what you’re passionate about means you will have greater returns, it’s a marketing gimmick really. People who invest do it to make money, while people who are passionate about wine, drink it.

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