BORDEAUX 2009

Welcome to the Nickolls & Perks Bordeaux En Primeur Pages, where you can, read our vintage assessment, browse through tasting notes, request price notifications as wines are released and of course order your favourite wines.

The 2009 Bordeaux en primeur campaign will begin in April. Our tasting team will soon be heading of to Bordeaux to contemplate the many Chateaux barrel samples, following which we will publish our findings.

This year expectations are high, near perfect weather conditions have produced phenomenol potential and the early reports are very promising predicting a great vintage.

Demand for these wines will be extreme so we have decided you offer you the chance to express your interest early in the form of a wish list. In the 'Browse Wines' section select the wines that you are potentially interested in buying, please note this will be an option not an order. We will then send you a notification email as soon as the individual wines are released. Please respond as quickly as you can to the email offer as stocks are likely to be extremely limited.

For certain chateaux there is likely to be much less wine available than we need to meet demand, we will do our best to fair to our customers. Some wines will have to be allocated, we respectfully ask our clients to balance portfolios by spreading orders to include allocated and non-allocated wines.

What is 'En Primeur'

En Primeur is the term given to the sale of wines still lying in cask, first release or to use American terminology 'futures'.
The 2009 grapes were harvested in September/October last year. Six months later the Chateaux have their new vintage wines lying in oak casks in the cool cellars maturing ready for bottling the following year, approximately 18 months after the grapes were picked. The Finest Bordeaux Chateaux, often generically referred to as the 'Crus Classes', invite the Bordeaux wine wholesalers 'negoces', to apply for allocations of the new wines. The Chateaux will release 'sortie' there wines to the wholesalers at a set price, pre-determined by the market demand and the release prices of there neighbours. These wines are then immediately offered onto the wine merchants and traders who battle to secure sufficient stock for their clients

Why buy from Nickolls & Perks

Nickolls & Perks, have forged close relationships with Bordeaux's elite wine negoces(wholesalers), with whom we work very closely to select and offer, the finest and best value wines that each vintage has to offer, and at very competitive prices.

Every year in the early spring our tasting team visit Bordeaux to assess the new vintage, meeting wine makers at the chateaux and attending the regional tastings organised by the Unions des Grands Crus, a trade and promotional body which represents many of Bordeaux's top Chateaux.

The 2009 wines will begin to land in the UK in the Spring of 2009, from when many of them will be handled by Nickolls & Perks' cellarage service which is growing at a phenomenal rate; evidence of the loyalty of our clients who trust in us year on year to build and care for their budding portfolios.