Vinfolio.com

Definitions

• “Futures” is a term generally reserved for newly released wine offered for sale now but for future delivery. The term is most commonly associated with Bordeaux futures which have a delivery timeline of 18 months to 2 years after initially being offered on the market.
• “Pre-arrival” is a term used to describe wine offered for sale prior to its arrival at your retailer. Pre-arrivals are analogous to futures in respect to future delivery but may or may not be a new release. The delivery timeline for pre-arrivals also tends to be much shorter – perhaps a week or two when coming directly from a winery or distributor, or as much as six months if being imported from Europe.

Two primary reasons to buy futures and pre-arrivals

1. Secure your supply. Often, there are only finite amounts available of highly scored or sought-after wine. “First come, first served” applies.
2. Obtain better pricing now. There will almost always be opportunities to buy a particular wine again but prices tend to rise as supply dwindles and secondary market sources (including individual collectors) are tapped for more. Many Bordeaux chateaux produce large quantities of wine and artificially limit supply in early futures offerings to manage pricing. Ultimately, the need to sell forces the additional supply onto the market and keeps prices down later. In the past 10 years, I’ve been able to buy virtually any Bordeaux wine later when in stock (or on short-term pre-arrival) at the same or even lower prices than originally offered.

In addition, for Bordeaux and some other futures, you can generally specify your preferred bottle size (including large formats) because you're purchasing the wine while it's still in barrel. Finally, for any new release purchase, you gain the comfort of knowing you have minimized any handling/provenance risk.

Risk factors

1. Advance payment – You're required to pay to secure your order because the retailer has to pay his supplier. Contrary to what some collectors believe, there's no long-term “float” benefiting the retailer.
2. Retailer stability – As with any business where you're in a creditor position until your purchased goods are received, you should deal with reputable, financially stable retailers. This is a more significant issue with the longer timeframes involved in futures.
3. Forgetting what you bought – Active wine collectors often buy from multiple retailers and quickly have an administrative problem tracking what they bought from where. Disorganized or unethical retailers may neglect to remind you that they owe you wine. Vinfolio's free online VinCellar cellar management software helps you track pre-arrivals from any source.

Note that Vinfolio guarantees that wine purchased from us will be delivered as originally sold, even if our supplier defaults (rare but it could happen) and we have to repurchase it from elsewhere at a higher price. Read our 125% pre-arrival guarantee below which I believe is unique in the wine industry:

Vinfolio's 125% pre-arrival guarantee

It may occur that a supplier of a Vinfolio pre-arrival or futures purchase does not deliver the quantity or bottle sizes originally sold by Vinfolio to Customer. Should this occur, Vinfolio guarantees that it will attempt to repurchase the wine from another source, including at its own greater cost. If within three months, Vinfolio cannot find the wine from another source, Vinfolio will refund the purchase price plus 25% which shall complete its obligation to Customer. If, however, Customer wishes to cancel the order prior to the foregoing three-month period without waiting for a replacement to be found, the refund will be for the original amount paid (i.e., without any premium added or cancellation fee applied).