The Wine Collector

As a follow up to my prior post, Bordeaux futures: Why bother?, it's now clear that en primeur pricing for the 2008 vintage is going to be in the "reality zone." But as further evidence of the buying opportunities which can arise by waiting until wines are bottled, read this Decanter.com story titled "Merchants: Low Bordeaux 2008 prices 'destroy' value of past two vintages." 

Buying opportunities for the patient

As seems to be the norm, most retailers aren't able to sell all of their Bordeaux futures and are often forced to wait until deliveries occur 18-24 months later to have a second crack at clearing them.  Even then, collector interest has moved on to newer vintages so they can be a tough sell (even without the collateral damage created by fairer pricing of a new vintage).

The Decanter story quotes several prominent U.S. retailers either selling remaining 2006 Bordeaux at half price (losing money in the process) or devaluing remaining stocks of 2006 and 2007 Bordeaux.

Bottom line: Patience can be rewarding.